Thursday, December 31, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 31

“Failed something.
Cannot touch

pale ambition.

Creak of an old sign
moved by silence.

Cannot speak

of it again,
the dream that will

not have me. As

if the wind that's
here is gone.”

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 30

“Silence
just beyond
sound. Light

in this
darkness like
a lamp.

Wind and
the memory
of wind.

All the words
redeemed.”



Tuesday, December 29, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 29

“No,” said the poet,
“it's not a show.

We actually
live
here. This is

life. These are
my people.”


Monday, December 28, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 28

“You don't understand?”
the poet asked.

“Then hold your breath
til the frog jumps.”


Friday, December 25, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 25

“It's a gift,”
the poet said.
“Take what you're

given and be
grateful. It's
never about

the poet, it's
about the poem.”


Thursday, December 24, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 24

“Swing
of line like
the way

a woman
moves
her hips.

Little more than
premonition,
a bird

heard
but not yet
seen.

The promise
of silence.”


Wednesday, December 23, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 23

“Sometimes the sound,
simple and sharp,

a scrape of chair
on wooden floor.

Sometimes more.”


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 22

“Cannot
walk into.

Cannot
crawl out of.

Only am.”


Monday, December 21, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 21

“Yup,”
said the poet,

“I can write
in the dark.

That's where
I do my

best work.”


Friday, December 18, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 18

“I would give you this
if I could catch it.

Take instead the promise,
for that's what it is -

always and only
a promise of promise.”


Thursday, December 17, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 17

“Do not wish
too much for
silence - it

will come soon
enough and
last long

after we
imagine.”

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 16

“So I am here
as witness.

They come to me.
I can't ignore

their sorrow.”


Tuesday, December 15, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 15

“Who
would be

saying
these things

I say,
and why?

If I
cry out,

who's to
hear? Or

is it
that I'm

here to
listen, to

witness?”


Monday, December 14, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 14

“About all we do,”
the poet said, “is

add a little music
to the language, a

little light during
the storm, a little si-

lence when it's needed.”


Friday, December 11, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 11

“Ah, yes,” he said,
“poets work hard

with never much
to show for it.”

Thursday, December 10, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 10

“The poem,” he said,
“might be a fastball

right down the middle,
or a curve out over

the edge of the plate.
You swing hard and hope

it falls in for a single.”


Wednesday, December 09, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 9

“That's the way it is
with poetry,” the poet said.

“The more I explain,
the less you understand.”


Tuesday, December 08, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 8

“Some,” he said,
“cannot be caught,

and some are
not worth
catching.”


Monday, December 07, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 7

"You want to write?"
the poet asked.


"Empty the empty
bucket. Kiss

a hard wind."


Friday, December 04, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 4

"For some,
imagination
remakes the world.

For others,
it is the world.
We have survived

forty
years of this,
my wife and I."



Thursday, December 03, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 3

"It's like monkeys
writing Shakespeare,"
the poet said.

"You just have to
keep typing."



Wednesday, December 02, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 2

"Sometimes,"
the poet said

"there are
miles between

these stanzas."



Tuesday, December 01, 2009

LINES FOR DECEMBER 1

"Don't think
so much,"
the poet said.

"It ruins
the effect."



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