The Middlewesterner

Saturday, August 31, 2019

WHEN THE LEAVES

When the leaves
show their silver,

my friend says,
a storm is coming.

When the silos glow
in the distance.

You do not argue
with old wisdom.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:05 AM

Friday, August 30, 2019

I KNOW ONLY

I know only
what I know.

You can show
me a thousand

things, ten
thousand, and

I will still
be surprised.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 9:10 AM

Thursday, August 29, 2019

THE EMPTY

The empty
heart loves its

loneliness.
Solitude is

what solitude
wants. Take of

this and make
something worth

keeping, sweet
as rain in

August, fresh
as ice when

you break it,
sharp as the

hawk's eyes in
this wet light.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 7:34 AM

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

NOT SIMPLY

Not simply
hawk and sun

and wind --
The world

doesn't need us
to know it.

We need it
to imagine

ourselves
into being

while every-
thing sings.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:34 AM

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

AUGUST REDTAIL

Sun and
wind and
hunger,

the hawk's
only
friends.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 7:41 AM

Monday, August 26, 2019

WHAT IS IS NOT

What is is not
what we say it
is, not even

the half of it.
It is larger
than the shape

a mouth can form,
larger than breath
and the fiction

breath can make
of those things
which we speak.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:51 AM

Sunday, August 25, 2019

SHADOW

Shadow of
the vulture,

the shades of
death. Darkness

rides the wind,
patient for

what comes next.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 2:27 PM

Saturday, August 24, 2019

WIND ACROSS

Wind across
the grasses.

Nothing else
touches them

now but light.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 7:23 AM

Friday, August 23, 2019

SOMEONE / WRITES

Someone
writes the world

or the world
writes him.

This is
how it is

every morning.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 7:58 AM

Thursday, August 22, 2019

SUDDEN HAWK

Sudden hawk.
A universe

opens
in its flash.

Another
closes.

You hold
your breath.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 7:28 AM

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Enough Crows

Enough crows
to choke the sky.

Not enough
to speak of God.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 7:41 AM

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

YES, HE SAYS

Yes, he says,
death

is the
unanswered

gesture.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:28 AM

Monday, August 19, 2019

THE LONG SHADOWS

The long shadows
of morning,

the day ahead
farther than

their reach, wind
coming in

like sorrow.
Nothing's promised.

Take what's left.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 1:59 PM

Sunday, August 18, 2019

OLD MAN

He thinks
he knows

where he
is, when

suddenly
he doesn't.

The world
has turned.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:13 AM

Saturday, August 17, 2019

GREEN AIR

Green air
beneath
empty sky.

August's
promise
is not kept.

Shadows
leap at
silence.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:45 AM

Friday, August 16, 2019

EVEN AT THE RIVER

I see
once again

the cottonwoods
have not learned

to listen.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 9:02 AM

Thursday, August 15, 2019

DO NOT SAY

Do not say
love

when you mean
hot nights

in July.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:41 AM

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

ALL NIGHT

All night
the fields

have waited
for day.

Sun comes.
A hawk

cuts the sky
as if to say

it's morning
again and

that's enough.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:50 AM

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Lord, lord,

Lord, lord,

the day says

about to

break, light

like fire

in a god's

eye, the wind

like her breath.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 9:32 AM

Saturday, August 10, 2019

FACEBOOK COMMENT

The universe
tends toward

entropy,
they say.

You can't put
spilled milk

back into the
broken glass.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 8:58 AM

Thursday, August 08, 2019

AT THE END

When finally
the light

lets go,
wherever

it goes,
I follow.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 10:25 AM

Wednesday, August 07, 2019

MORNING

Where
the monarch
butterfly

lights,
light.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 9:19 AM

Tuesday, August 06, 2019

THE BLESSING

The blessing
of this poem,
he said, is

when it's done
it stays done.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 9:20 AM

Monday, August 05, 2019

THIS IS

This is
the same
light which

blessed us
last time,
he said,

before
we lost
our way.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 9:14 AM

Sunday, August 04, 2019

SOMETIMES / WANTING

Sometimes
wanting is
enough.

Patience,
the worm on
the hook.

Wait for it.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 10:27 AM

Saturday, August 03, 2019

WHERE THERE'S

Where there's
wind, light

dances with
leaves. That

beauty
should not go

unremarked.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 9:55 AM

Friday, August 02, 2019

THERE IS SO

There is so
much I do

not wish to
say: this is

its essence,
poetry,

not saying.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 9:49 AM

Thursday, August 01, 2019

SOMETIMES

Sometimes what we want
is to stand at the

edge of the void and
imagine what it

is like to fall to
a darkness filled with

the last of every
hope. Sometimes it is

enough simply to say
good-bye, God-speed, love.

# posted by Tom Montag @ 10:36 AM