Saturday, April 30, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"It is a foolish
poet who says

Poem, do not
bother me while

I'm working."

*

"Ha, world! I have
written a few lines

and the sun hasn't
even come up."

*

"You want to be
a truck driver, you

have to come early,
stay late, and take

abuse like a poet."

Friday, April 29, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 29


Bottom
of a great

ocean,
these dark

fields.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 28


Crow has no
hold on the cold.

Summer, though
distant, is

coming. Winter
is remembering.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 27


Wind and sky -
which is wider

in grey April,
and which

hugs the hill?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 26


Low lay of morning
on the marsh,

a grey sadness
rising.

Monday, April 25, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 25


Red-shouldered
sergeant of the marsh,

the red-winged
blackbird

takes command.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"The poem leaves
the porch light on.

If not, it's not
much of a poem."

*

"The poet
cannot expect the poem,

only accept it."

*

"Don't count your stresses.
Don't count your lines.
Don't count your poems.

Just write the damn things.
They'll sort it out."

Saturday, April 23, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"Words? You don't
need many, just

the right ones."

*

"The empty-
headed poet
waits all night

for just this
moment."

*

"Where and how
I don't know.

Is just is."


Friday, April 22, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 22


Ah, bird, wind-
flower in

our sky - spring
has come, and

you with it,
gift of the

equinox.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 21

Warmth and moisture
and the urgency of


green dreaming things.


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 20

Oh, birds,
back for another
season of our sun.

Oh, spring,
sprung where winter
has fallen.

Oh, promise
of a teeming greenness,
all things throbbing

in unison.


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 19

Wind plays
in a free key -

you hum along.


Monday, April 18, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 18


Oh, crow,
splitting

the sky -
we wonder

what catches
your eye

on a grey
day, rain

on the way,
not enough

sweetness,
too much

pain.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"You don't have to
agree with your friends.

In fact, why
would you want to?"

*

"Leave early.
Travel light.
Love someone

more than you
love yourself."

*

"It is good
to have a short
memory, so you

can't quote yourself."

Saturday, April 16, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"One to a page is fine,
as if poetry is not

a waste of paper."

*

"Writing poems in darkness
is what poets do.
Why should you hope otherwise?"

*

"How to write
a few good poems?
Write a lot and let

the few odd ones
surprise you."

Friday, April 15, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 15


Small bird
in the far sky -

desire's
the fallen star.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 14


Trees


just starting
to remember
what spring


is.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 13


Spring
barely sprung

and already
it's undone -

another storm.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 12

In the woods
where deep

memory is,
snow yet.

Monday, April 11, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 11


Duck, duck, ducks
swimming in
the empty field -

spring has come
to Wisconsin.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"If it doesn't
want to go,

wait. You are
not ready

to take it."

*

"How much hinge
can you remove

before the door
falls off?

That's always
my question."

*

"Put on your
nakedness
like a blessing.

Open yourself
to the universe.

Listen and bleed."

Saturday, April 09, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"Leave half a sheet of blank paper
before you on the empty desk -

something will want to fill it."

*

"You seem to think I'm
falling farther behind.

Actually, I'm not
going where you are."

*

"How much is too much?
There's a line. You don't
know it til you cross it."

Friday, April 08, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 8


Spring, leaving us
a thousand greens.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 7

The green push,
and a strange

wind from the east.

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 6

Frost on the roof.
Nibbling sun.


Tuesday, April 05, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 5

Green
springs

this April,
and hope.

Monday, April 04, 2011

SADNESS, THERE
-------------------------



Full moon
over great
sadness.

How many
have died,
will die?

Again.

*

Those who
suffer so

see the same
moon I do.

*

Glow
of the moon,

our anguish.

*

Oh, sad moon,
remember

this darkness.

*

At the western
edge of sky -

now it settles
into sorrow.

*

Sun
works the
morning sky.

Moon
sticks to
its business,

which is
this sadness.

*

The taste of sadness -
ashes in the mouth.

*

So much
now,

the moon
must

hide itself.


Sunday, April 03, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"A poem?
That's when
nobody calls
and you


answer."
*

"When's the best
time to write?"
they asked.

"It's a morning
thing," he said.

"You have to
get them before

they settle."

*

"Enough?
Too much?
A little more?

You never know
until you're
out the door."


Saturday, April 02, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"The short poem must
stand alone and mean
more than it can be."


*


"It's obvious why we
need these roads. If
the trucks all went home,
there'd by no place
for them to park."


*


"Ha! Is poem
thought

well-chewed?"

Friday, April 01, 2011

LINES FOR APRIL 1
Spring - morning
gauze at the window

with wind.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?