Friday, July 30, 2021

GIVE 


Give the autumn
leaves to what
the wind allows.



Wednesday, July 28, 2021

SWAYBACK 


Swayback barn,
the darkness inside.

The wood thinks
of the earth.

The trees there
think of the wind.



Tuesday, July 27, 2021

OLD MAN 


Old man headed west.
The world keeps turning.



Monday, July 26, 2021

IN SOME LANGUAGE (60) 


In some language
the word for yes
also means
on my mother's grave.



Sunday, July 25, 2021

TEN OLD MONK POEMS (25) 


YOU WAIT

You wait long enough,
the wind comes again,
the old monk says.
That's patience.

~

WHAT LETS YOU

What lets you
fall so far

down is what
lifts you up,

the old monk
promised.

~

IF YOU SPEND

If you spend your time
talking like a monk
people might think that
you are a monk,
the old monk said,
but he didn't mean
to sound like that.

~

THAT PARALLEL

That parallel
universe --
it's right here.
Touch it,
the old monk said.

~

AT SUCH A MOMENT

At such a moment
it all lets go,
the old monk says,
let go with it.

~

THE SHADOWS

The shadows that went
up the mountain
this morning are
coming down tonight,
the old monk said.

~

IF YOU COULD BE

If you could be
both and neither,
the old monk said,
you would be the one.

~

I KNOW IT

I know it,
the old monk said.
Sometimes I just
don't see it,
I don't say it.

~

THIS IS THE WAY

This is the way
it'll work,
the old monk said.
You show me
you can fly,
you can have
the job.

~

DON'T WRITE IT

Don't write it down
if you think it's
important,
the old monk said.
Live it.

~

I COULD GIVE YOU

I could give you
a good deal,
the old monk said,
but then you might
think you cheated.

~


Friday, July 23, 2021

ENOUGH MOON 


Enough moon
the pines will be speaking.



Thursday, July 22, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (46) 


The Sandhills --
where even the silence
goes silent.



Wednesday, July 21, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (45) 


What you want
is silence,

what you've got
is wind in

the Sandhills.



Tuesday, July 20, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (44) 


Double or nothing
the wind says

to the old house
in the Sandhills

and tries again
to take it down.



Monday, July 19, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (43) 


God said
I'll give you

everything
for nothing

and made
the Sandhills.



Sunday, July 18, 2021

TEN OLD MONK POEMS (24) 


I CAN'T HELP IT

I can't help it:
evening goes to
darkness,
the old monk says.
The same goes
for darkness
going to morning.

~

IF YOU KEEP TURNING

If you keep turning
your back to the wind,
the old monk said,
people might think
you're a horse. Are you?

~

HOW MANY TIMES

How many times
will you carry it
up the mountain,
the old monk asked.
Lay your burden down.

~

IT'S NOT THE PRODUCT

It's not the product,
it's the process
I understand,
the old monk said.

~

I CAN'T TURN OFF

I can't turn off
the radio
and I can't
go to sleep,
the old monk
complained.

~

ONE PLACE

One place
or another,

it's always
somewhere,

the old
monk said.

~

THE OLD PINES

The old pines
in the moonlight,
the old monk says,
and the silence.

~

THIS

This.
Say it again.
This time,

let the moment
open,
the old monk said.

~

IF I COULD

If I could sell them to you
at a better price,
the old monk said,
do you think I would still be
living on the mountain?

~

WISDOM

Wisdom
is the emptinenss
of its silence,
the old monk said.

~



NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (42) 


If anyone owns this
empty house in the Sandhills

the wind won't let them keep it,
even with bricks on the roof

to hold down the shingles.



Saturday, July 17, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (41) 


Where the wind pauses
is where you catch your breath
in the Sandhills.



Friday, July 16, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (40) 


The wind leaves
nothing it can carry --
the Sandhills.



Thursday, July 15, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (39) 


A yellow bucket
full of wind,
the Sandhills.



Wednesday, July 14, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (38) 


A rolling distance
and sky
in the Sandhills.



Tuesday, July 13, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (37) 


Who offers little
has only
the Sandhills to give.



Monday, July 12, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (36) 


The old ones still love
the silence and the light
in the Sandhills.



Sunday, July 11, 2021

TEN OLD MONK POEMS (23) 



THEY'RE BOOKS

They're books. My books,
the old monk said.

I have to give them
to somebody.

Let me give them
to you. Think kindling.

Say thank you.

~

THIS SOLITUDE

This solitude,
the old monk thinks,
it's enough
for all day.

~

YOU ALWAYS WANT

You always want
what you say
to make sense
almost,
the old monk said.
Oops, I've told
too much.

~

IF YOU KEEP

If you keep
following yourself,
you'll walk
in circles,
the old monk says.

~

NO, NOT REALLY

No, not really.
It's never been
about money.
What I've wanted,
the old monk said,
you should know
by how I've lived.

~

SOMETIMES

Sometimes,
the old monk said,
I don't know
what I've said
until twelve
days later.

~

SOMETIMES WHEN I TALK

Sometimes when I talk,
the old monk said,
what you hear is
not wisdom but
wind in the pines.

~

WHAT THE WIND DOES

What the wind does,
it does
on the way down,
the old monk says.
On the way up,
it's flying.

~

IN THE MIRROR

In the mirror
my bullet eyes
look back at me.
I retreat,
the old monk says.

~

THERE ARE THINGS

There are things you know
you do not say.
There are things you say
you do not know,
the old monk said.
Both of these will
get you in trouble.

~



NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (35) 


Even the horses know
when God has touched them,
the Sandhills.



Saturday, July 10, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (34) 


The Sandhills --
God's first
draft of heaven.



Friday, July 09, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (33) 


The Badlands
and the Sandhills --

blood brothers,
even now.



Thursday, July 08, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (32) 


When its bones
are showing
in the Sandhills

you know you are
close to the earth.




Wednesday, July 07, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (31) 


--for Mike Stinson

When the old ones speak
in the Sandhills
even the wind listens.



Tuesday, July 06, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (30) 


Sometimes the wind
in the Sandhills
wants nothing

and the cottonwoods
are happy.



Monday, July 05, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (29) 


Where the horses are,
water in the Sandhills,
and wind.



Sunday, July 04, 2021

TEN OLD MONK POEMS (22) 


IF YOU DON'T

If you don't leave it,
the old monk said
there's no way
you'll get it back.

~

IF IT'S NOT

If it's not as intense
as it needs to be,
the old monk says,

you're not far enough
up the mountain.
Keep climbing.

~

WHEN SOMEONE

When someone makes
that kind of promise
they're hiding something,
the old monk said.
Don't make the deal.

~

IF YOU CARRY IT

If you carry it
up the mountain,
the old monk said,

someone will
want to snatch it.

~

EVERYTHING

Everything you let go of
rolls down the mountain,
the old monk says.
That's what you've got to learn.

~

SOME OF YOUR WORDS

Some of your words
are empty,
the old monk
told his students.
Don't use them.

What is an empty
word, they asked.
It's when the cup
is broken, he said.

~

SOMETIMES I GO

Sometimes I go
all the way up

the mountain
before I figure

it out,
the old monk said.

Sometimes I don't
get it until

I'm coming down.

~

NIGHT IS ALWAYS

Night is always longer
when you live in a cave,
the old monk
told his students.
Don't be surprised by that.

~

WHEN YOU ACCEPT

When you accept
a gift, you are

making a promise,
the old monk said.

That's how it is.
You have to keep it.

~

CRICKET EVEN

Crickets even the evening,
the old monk said.
That's why we need them.

~



NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (28) 


Silence is what
the distance holds
in these Sandhills.



Saturday, July 03, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (27) 


Some who know
these Sandhills
know nothing but
these Sandhills.



Friday, July 02, 2021

NEBRASKA SANDHILLS (26) 


Grass
in the Sandhills
is sand's friend
smoothing the wind.



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