Thursday, March 31, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 31

A bucket-dumping
wind and the green
slurr of spring that's
pushing northward.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 30

Wood of the old barn wet with


the scent of spring.




Tuesday, March 29, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 29

Dripping
sky and still

the snow.


Monday, March 28, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 28

Silly robin looking for worms through snow -


what does she know that I don't?




Sunday, March 27, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"I do not like you
on my tail, Mister-
Man-with-a-Salt-

Shaker. Back off and
nobody gets hurt."

*

"Make your poems
of common stuff,"
he said.

"How rare is the air,
yet how we need it."

*

"If something
grabs you and
won't let go,

tell yourself
the story."


Saturday, March 26, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"Have you seen
the guy writing

poetry at
seventy m.p.h.?

That would be
me."

*

"The line
break is

leverage.
Use it."

*

"I have
what I need.

I'm doing
what I want.

So what do you
think you can

sell me?"


Friday, March 25, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 25

Water at the road's
edge. Spring has come
to Wisconsin.


Thursday, March 24, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 24

March rain, as
if winter
has indeed

come undone.


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 23

Hawk in an empty tree
like a promise of spring.


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 22

Black dirt
nosing its way

through snow -
spring comes with

mud on its face.


Monday, March 21, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 21

Winter breaks,
the sun a lost
dog looking

for home.


Sunday, March 20, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"You scratch the surface
and think you find something.

That's not what we're looking for."

*

"If you would write,
find the silence within

and honor it."

*

"Some words are mine.
They come when I call them."


Saturday, March 19, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"You are poets,"
he said, "not salesmen.

Don't confuse your role."

*

"Move the poem,"
he said,

"from ooh to
ahh."

*

"If one is all I get,
one is what I take."


Friday, March 18, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 18

Winter thaws -
water at the edge

of snow,
light at the edge

of shadow.


Thursday, March 17, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 17

Creek flows through
folds of snow,
enough you know

spring will come.


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 16

A greasy snow -
I could slide all

the way to hell.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 15

Hoarfrost on the trees,
and the morning sun.


Monday, March 14, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 14

Corn stubble - whiskers
in the snowy fields, crows

mumbling some complaint.


Sunday, March 13, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"The way these poems
come, it must be like

milk letting down."

*

"Poetry is like
squashing squash or
spilling water -

you may initiate
the process, but

you can't control it."

*

"If it doesn't
make sense, say it

outloud
until it does."


Saturday, March 12, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"You can love your ignorance
or you can come to understanding -

you can't do both."

*

"It's like writing
in a trance," he said.

"You keep doing it -
something will come."

*

"How many of these
can you do?" they asked.

He said, "How many
of them can you undo?"


Friday, March 11, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 11

Hawk in the tree,
fluffed for winter,

as keen of eye
as the air is cold -

there's nothing
he doesn't see.


Thursday, March 10, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 10

Winter morning.
Sky like the inside

of seashell.
Day like an

endless ocean.


Wednesday, March 09, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 9

Sunday morning.
Cold cast of sky,

as if the fire's
gone.


Tuesday, March 08, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 8

Lift of wind.
Night so cold

the sky has cracked.


Monday, March 07, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 7

Sunday morning in winter.
A sadness at my going,

yet joy for the journey.


Sunday, March 06, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"This poetry -
more OCD
than talent,

I'm afraid."

*

"Yes," he said, "you can
become a poet,

but why would you
want to?"

*

"How many
of them are there?

How much
water in the well?"


Saturday, March 05, 2011

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS


"How can you
say what we

know?

You're not from
around here."

*

"It's a good
poem, I know,

when I can't
read my writing,

but you can
only say that

looking back."

*

"Nothing tricks me into
conversation with myself

like these long drives."


Friday, March 04, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 4

Hard crunch
of snow -

every step
you know

you're going.


Thursday, March 03, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 3

Early morning.
Bitter cold.

Our restlessness
and no place to go.


Wednesday, March 02, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 2

Snow and sorrow -
spring will take one

or the other.

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

LINES FOR MARCH 1

We don't
want to
say it,

but - yes -
March is
mostly

winter.


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