Friday, December 31, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 31

That which
comes together

comes apart.
We are but

star dust.
We are but

petals
falling off

the flower.
We are but

withered grass
finding fire.


Thursday, December 30, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 30

Piece of truck
tire on the

snow, or crow?


Wednesday, December 29, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 29

Fenceposts
up to their nipples
in snow.


Tuesday, December 28, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 28

The shove of ice
pressing shoreward.

The slice of water
at the edge of ice.

The emptiness between
ice and water.

My notion that
somehow this

is important.


Monday, December 27, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 27

Those who know may say
otherwise, but I think
“Lakota” is Sioux for
“Where angels reside.”

Thank you for shelter
from the storm.


Sunday, December 26, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Want
is like talk -

empty
buckets, both.”

*

“You don't know
what you lack

so you ask
for more of

what you've got.”

*

“Rock means
what rock is.

Soil is more
deceitful.”


Saturday, December 25, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Knowing that you cannot
trust them is better

than not knowing
you can trust them.”

*

“Making no sense
is my way of

making sense.”

*

“Traveling poet,
drinker of wind,

hard chaser of dreams
and dreaming things.”


Friday, December 24, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 24

Oh, for the wind
that shapes the snow

to shape me.


Thursday, December 23, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 23

Snow. Water.
Land-shark waiting
to surface.


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 22

Snow melt pooled
like a wishing well,
and me

without a penny.


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 21

How is it
in the fog

there's the rough
edge of Antarctica

along the road?


Monday, December 20, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 20

It's not the cold
so much as

the dampness
in everything,

this winter.


Sunday, December 19, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Why are
yesterday's

children
today's

fools?”

*

“Please excuse
my late arrival.

I was delayed
by a poem.”

*

“Why must
the silence

be filled?
Of what

are we
afraid?”


Saturday, December 18, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Your insult
I wear like a badge.”

*

“Leave off
the search
for wisdom.

Stillness
is its own
message.”

*

“When did you
drive off the road?”
the officer asked.

“Between the second
and third stanzas,”
the old poet said.


Friday, December 17, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 17

Ice on the pond,
the air heavy
with winter, and

already crow
is lost to darkness.


Thursday, December 16, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 16

Sorrowfully bright sky -
winter all the way.


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 15

Early morning darkness,
the wind cold and biting.

How the music calls me.


Tuesday, December 14, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 14

Somehow the sun
on corn stubble

has changed the day.


Monday, December 13, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 13

Frost on the windshield.
The sound of a door closing.
Some sun with our grey day.

We are all looking
for home, aren't we?


Sunday, December 12, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Suddenly even
my left-handedness

seems strange.”

*

“Do you always
make such fun
of yourself?”
they asked.

“What do you mean,
always?”

*

“Those clothes -
is that all

you have to say?”


Saturday, December 11, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“Nothing.
Then again

nothing more.”

*

“Where are you going?

Are you gone?”

*

“Six times four
is plenty much.”


Friday, December 10, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 10

Black sheep, white sheep,
woolen caps

and jackets -
winter's coming.


Thursday, December 09, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 9

Hang of sky
like the earth's

sadness packed
for winter.


Wednesday, December 08, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 8

Dirty light of
a winter sun,

and no other
way to get there.


Tuesday, December 07, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 7

Snow
on the mountains.

Light
in the wind.

Distance
in the distance

again.


Monday, December 06, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 6

Corn stalks
poke through snow.

A grey day
goes greyer.


Sunday, December 05, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


If joy
came in buckets

mine would have
a hole.”

*

“I would shut up
if I could.

You think I do this
on purpose?”

*

“The more
I don't understand

the more
I have to write it down.”


Saturday, December 04, 2010

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


“What? You let
a single period

stop a sentence?
Great thoughts

are larger than
punctuation.”

*

“Steal my car -
you steal nothing.

Take my notebook -
I might have to

hurt you.”

*

“You're only paying
for two of us.

Why would you
expect the whole

orchestra?”


Friday, December 03, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 3

No use. Oak is oak.
Am I the last to know?


Thursday, December 02, 2010

LINE FOR DECEMBER 2

This silence, my friend.


Wednesday, December 01, 2010

LINES FOR DECEMBER 1

Sheltered from the rain.
This moment. This life.
Promise the sun brings.


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