Monday, April 30, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 30

The tender sun
this spring morning -

the birds can talk
of nothing else.



Sunday, April 29, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"I don't
intend to
say it.

It says
itself."

*

"Where do I learn
this line I pound?

Where do I find
this lack of rhyme?

Doing what I do
undoes what I've done."

*

"Fill the same
form until

you're certain
you broke it."



Saturday, April 28, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"When you don't
understand what

you're trying to
say is the best

time to say it."

*

"If you aren't
sometimes foolish,
you aren't

making art."

*

"That is
poetry -
that which

says itself."



Friday, April 27, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 27

The green
urgency
of spring.

The musk
of everything
swollen.

The push
towards light,
life.

It's morning.
Say yes
again.



Thursday, April 26, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 26

The mud.
Cattle

knee-deep
in spring.



Wednesday, April 25, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 25

Clods of dirt
in the worked

field, like crows
with nothing

much to do.



Tuesday, April 24, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 24

Ah, spring.
The world

starts new
again.



Monday, April 23, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 23

Spring hangs
for a moment,

then vanishes
on the wind.

We're left with
a hawk instead.



Sunday, April 22, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"Why more
stress over

what we
don't have

than rejoicing
over what

we do?"

*

"Wanting nothing
is the first

condition for
happiness.

Having little
is the second."

*

"To eat.
To be eaten.

Are we less
or more than

nothing?"



Saturday, April 21, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"Why must
you rush

the poem?"

*

"If you think
about it too

much, sometimes
it disappears."

*

"How much of
something is
too much?

How much of
nothing is
not?"



Friday, April 20, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 20

The worked earth
soaks up sun.

The wind hums
in the leafing trees.

The air vibrates
with all the birds.

You know it's spring.



Thursday, April 19, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 19

The trees are misted
with urgent green,

clouds hanging
like white kites.

The earth gives up
a welcome warmth.

It's spring. I have
all I can do to

keep my clothes on.



Wednesday, April 18, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 18

Suddenly
spring -

everything
in motion.



Tuesday, April 17, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 17

Spring rain.
A green edge

to everything.



Monday, April 16, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 16

Grey day, and cold rain
like a blessing still

on the new-sown fields.



Sunday, April 15, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"Sometimes the form
suggests itself, and

sometimes I don't
know what it's doing."

*

"If heaven
isn't

the view
just over
this hill,

then heaven
isn't."

*

"Chase the poem,
it vanishes.

What you think
you've grasped

evaporates."



Saturday, April 14, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"If
you haven't

already done
the obvious,

don't
do it now."

*

"Sometimes no
words are enough."

*

"Sometimes
it's the poems,

sometimes
it's me, and

sometimes
I don't know

what it is."



Friday, April 13, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 13

Geese -
a sheet

of ice
on the dark

water.



Thursday, April 12, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 12

What does

certainty
know of snow

in spring?



Wednesday, April 11, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 11

Already cranes
and the day

just begun!



Tuesday, April 10, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 10

Spring -
the birds

lifting it
with song.



Monday, April 09, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 9

A salted sky,
a knifing wind.

Is it the last
of winter?

We won't know
until June.



Sunday, April 08, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"Too much and
not enough,

the poisons
we take."

*

"Sometimes
one

or two,
more

often a
run of them -

words and
sand-

hill cranes."

*

"Water goes
where water goes -

what's not to
understand?"



Saturday, April 07, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"Those I most
admire

show me
the hypocrite

I am."

*

"Poetry is a small
man. I don't know

his name, but his
wisdom brings me

to my knees."

*

"If it's a gift, don't say
it's not what you want."



Friday, April 06, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 6

Ah, spring,
nosing in

like a fox
and slipping

as easily
away.



Thursday, April 05, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 5

The trees,
swollen and

blushing, don't
know it's not

yet spring.



Wednesday, April 04, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 4

Earth
wobbles

towards
equinox.

The wind
makes

promises,
makes and

breaks them.



Tuesday, April 03, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 3

Drag north
the sun,
wind.

Bring us
spring
again.



Monday, April 02, 2012


LINES FOR APRIL 2

Rock, woods,
water, hawk.

Sky
so high.

The earth,
dark.

You can
smell it

coming -
spring.



Sunday, April 01, 2012


THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

"I am in no hurry
to meet Mr. Death

but he doesn't worry -
he sees me coming."

*

"Words and wind -
nothing and

nothing more."

*

"Sometimes
a small line

is enough.
Sometimes

too much."



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