Friday, April 30, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 30

Slap, slap, slap of
the windshield wipers,

the insistent rain,
the grey sky darkening,

wisdom that can't be shared.


Thursday, April 29, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 29

Low crow
in a low sky.

We are all
looking for home.


Wednesday, April 28, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 28

A wet morning
and drag-tail crows

working the sky.


Tuesday, April 27, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 27

Leaving my friend
on a grey morning -

fog in my beard.


Monday, April 26, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 26

Sky

like a
dripping

swimmer
done with

her laps
today.


Sunday, April 25, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Everything
in the quiet

moment.

Nothing
in the rush.”

*

“He
is not me, as

I
am not you, though

you
may be he.”

*

“If you wait
for the translation,

you've missed
what I'm saying.”


Saturday, April 24, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Sometimes a word or phrase,”
he said,

“and sometimes the whole
enchilada.”

*

“If you put
somebody out,”
he said, “you

can stay in,
even if
somebody

put you out.”

*

“If you're about done writing
and your pen falls to the floor,

pick it up, write some more.”


Friday, April 23, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 23

If he be
crow, what

am I but
crow's shadow?


Thursday, April 22, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 22

This crow
heads east
carrying

rude o-
pinions
of his

own.


Wednesday, April 21, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 21

Ha! Cold crow
flies its wet
blackness in-

to night sky.


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 20

Wet crow
in hard rain

turns its head
as if he's

had enough
of rude o-

pinions.


Monday, April 19, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 19

In field and ditch
an April wind

does and undoes.


Sunday, April 18, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“See awe.
Say ah!

Seesaw
between.”

*

“Silence is the paint.
The notes are what we

see of the canvas.”

*

“A short poem,” he said,
“is the quiet poet's

Iliad, without
the fuss.”


Saturday, April 17, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Pretend
the sun

makes meaning.
Then what

do you know?”


*

“Making poems?
Like this,” he said,

putting his
mark on paper.

*

“There are no great
revelations,”
he said, “only

little secrets,
day in, day out.”


Friday, April 16, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 16

Red buds
of the
silver
maple,

hints of
things to
come.


Thursday, April 15, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 15

Spring. Dust devils
dance up the street.

All our flowers
dance in place.

The wind, the wind
is muttering.


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 14

Blast of morning's
broken light on
hard wind. Trees

holding their hunger
skyward, like
penitents.

Something has
turned, though I
don't know what,

nor how much.
We fall back
to sadness.


Tuesday, April 13, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 13

Red-tail morning.
The sky high and
blue, the green

of spring, coming.


Monday, April 12, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 12

First flower
of spring -

the face
of God.


Sunday, April 11, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Yes, sitting there
wondering if

words will ever
come again -

the weight
of waiting.”

*

“If it were as
easy as turn

left there, turn
right here, we'd

all be poets.”

*

“If you
had any

more poems,
we'd both

be rich.”


Saturday, April 10, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Roll some vowels
about your mouth,”

he said,
“just for practice.”

*

“It's just you
and the words,”
he said.

“What are you
afraid of?”

*

“Lead us not
into temptation?”
he said.

“I don't think so.
I like sinning

and being sinned on.”


Friday, April 09, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 9

Dome
of grey,

shell
game of

sorrow.


Thursday, April 08, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 8

Grey fray
of the spring

day. No sun
and no

promise
of one.


Wednesday, April 07, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 7

High water
on the river
and beyond.

The glass which
would be spring,
half full.


Tuesday, April 06, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 6

The wind comes undone.
You smell the damp earth.
We've had enough of winter.


Monday, April 05, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 5

Ice gone out
and geese

on the water.
In the distance,

spring.


Sunday, April 04, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“How far can you go,”
he challenged them,

“one page at a time?”

*

“Small, only
two or three
of them, and

already
it's crowded.”

*

“This is poetry,
people,” he said.

“Don't think of it
as you would the world.”


Saturday, April 03, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“You may do it,”
he said, “and never

understand
what you've done.

That's the fun.”

*

“I don't know,”
he said. “I just

do the best
I can and

sometimes I'm
astonished.”

*

“Pound the words.
Pound at them.

Do not let down.
Do not relent.

Poetry
in the making!

Ring the anvil!
Sing!”


Friday, April 02, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 2

A thousand
loose miles
ahead of me.

Behind, a wind
that's pushing.


Thursday, April 01, 2010

LINES FOR APRIL 1

This tree,
my friend

I call
Henry

David.
That table,

Ralph
Waldo.


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