Wednesday, July 31, 2019

AGAINST POETRY IN ENGLISH 


My father did not
waste his words.
He chewed them.

And when he spoke
folks listened.
I learned from that.

Give me one
plum blossom
to make a line,

a poem, a life.
Give me one
mountain hermitage

and enough
silence to make
each syllable

an explosion
of joy. Give me
an aha moment

when once is
enough, and
more than enough.


Monday, July 29, 2019

PAPER 


I do not
like white
paper.

I prefer
the off-
white,

cream-
colored,
as if

light has
something
to say

about what
is what.



Sunday, July 28, 2019

BECAUSE 


Because, when we sleep,
the world lets loose.

 Because, when the world
lets loose, we dream.

Because, when we dream,
we dream ourselves,

the world lets loose.



Saturday, July 27, 2019

ONLY 


Only
the smallest
of things,

down to
the single
point

of what
it is,
where

it can be
nothing else.



Friday, July 26, 2019

THE WIND 


The wind
must love
the corner

of the house
where it
whistles

all night
and sometimes
sings.



Thursday, July 25, 2019

CHICORY 


Chicory
dancing

in wind,
color of

the sky's
kisses.



Wednesday, July 24, 2019

HOW DEATH- 


How death-
ly pale
the dark-
ness which

shimmers
inside
of us.
Nothing

left but
loss and
sadness,

which find
their way
to silence.



Tuesday, July 23, 2019

TREES DON'T 


Trees don't
believe,
he said.

Or if
they do
their god

is the
sun. Rain
is their

hope. The
sound of
wind in

their leaves
the prayer
they make.



Monday, July 22, 2019

REDTAIL FOLLOWS 


Redtail follows
kestrel across

the grasses.
It's eat or

be eaten.
Don't look back,

someone says,
they're gaining.



Sunday, July 21, 2019

THE OLD MAN 


The old man
dances on gravel,

smoothing it
where flooding

washed out
the driveway.

He doesn't
know anyone

is watching.
His dancing

settles the world
anyway.



Saturday, July 20, 2019

YOU CANNOT SAY 


You cannot say
here

when you are a million miles from
here

in the time it takes to
say it.



Friday, July 19, 2019

LESSON 


What can we learn
from silence? We can
learn to listen.



Thursday, July 18, 2019

THE LAMP 


The lamp
within the stone,

like a star's
particles

flying at us,
light

we notice
or don't as

we go on
looking

at the surface
of things.



Wednesday, July 17, 2019

THE CEDAR / IN THE WINDOW 


The cedar
in the window
is somehow
changed

by my seeing
it. I am
somehow
changed

by its being
there. Neither
of us

speak of this
in ordinary
moments.


Tuesday, July 16, 2019

SHADOW 


Shadow
is not

the thing
itself

but can't
be with-

out it.
Light is

how we
know the

thing as
thing.



Monday, July 15, 2019

I WONDER 


I wonder
do creatures

of the far
stars have clowns?

Do they know
as we do

that when we
laugh, we laugh

at ourselves?
Do they laugh

at themselves
as we do,

at the far
darkness in

the heart of
our dark hearts?



Sunday, July 14, 2019

GREAT BLUE 


Great blue
heron

in the
grey sky

above the
library--

what does it
bring me

that I need
now? What

do I take?
Before you

can answer,
the bird

is gone.



Saturday, July 13, 2019

AT THAT MOMENT 


At that moment,
dying,

he remembers
where

poetry
takes him.



Friday, July 12, 2019

THE LOCUSTS 


How do the
locusts count
to seventeen

in their long
darkness of
waiting? Why

do they sing
all summer
in their time?

What does their
pregnant silence
mean in other

years? What else
am I not
meant to know?



Thursday, July 11, 2019

HISTORY IS WRIT 


History is writ
in the grasses,

the old paths
coming out

of darkness
and leading us

back into
who we are.



Wednesday, July 10, 2019

SOUND OF THE STORM 


What does the
rain say? It

says there is
nothing new

under the sun.



Tuesday, July 09, 2019

SPRING FOOLISHNESS 


Just when you
think it's over

winter opens
darkness again.



Monday, July 08, 2019

REDTAIL FOLLOWS 


Redtail follows
movement across

the grasses.
It's eat or

be eaten.
Don't look back,

someone says,
they're gaining.


Sunday, July 07, 2019

THE OLD MAN 


The old man
dances on gravel,

smoothing it
where flooding

washed out
the driveway.

He doesn't
know anyone

is watching.
His dancing

settles the world
with joy.



Saturday, July 06, 2019

YOU CANNOT SAY 




You cannot say
here

when you are a million miles from
here

in the time it takes to
say it.


Friday, July 05, 2019

WHAT CAN WE LEARN 


What can we learn
from silence? We can
learn to listen.




Thursday, July 04, 2019

THE LAMP 


The lamp
within the stone,

like a star's
particles

flying at us,
light

we notice
or don't as

we go on
looking

at the surface
of things.



Wednesday, July 03, 2019

THE CEDAR / IN THE WINDOW 


The cedar
in the window

is somehow
changed by

my seeing.
I am

somehow
changed by

its being
there. Neither

of us speaks
of this in

ordinary moments.



Tuesday, July 02, 2019

SHADOW 


Shadow
is not
the thing

itself.
Light
is how

we know
the thing
as thing.



Monday, July 01, 2019

AN IMAGE OF 


the black hole
at the center
of the Milky Way --

I think
of us loving
into the night,

the darkness
not something
we have feared.

We empty
ourselves into it
again and again.

Loss fills us
for another
go at hope.


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