The Middlewesterner

2010-09-06T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR SEPTEMBER 6

Upside down moon,
this
ocean-faced morning.

2010-09-05T04:37:00.000-05:00

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

“Set aside
what you think
you know

and listen.”

*

“A proper
poem

acknowledges
the stones.”

*

“Why would I want to
wear your brand? Isn't
it bad enough that

I am myself?”

2010-09-04T04:37:00.000-05:00

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

“Make your notes.
Make your futile
notes and pay attention.

The poem will come.”

*

“Not much time
and not much space

but lots of words
to feed the darkness.”

*

“Religious or not,
you are only a

lump of molecules
with attitude

waiting to disintegrate.”

2010-09-03T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR SEPTEMBER 3

Dead squirrel
on the highway.

What he thought
at the end -

Uh-oh!

2010-09-02T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR SEPTEMBER 2

Believe
in stones.

They believe
in you.

2010-09-01T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR SEPTEMBER 1

Happiness
like a sudden squall

as if her heart
dances.

2010-08-29T04:37:00.001-05:00

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

“Make notes.
Leave a trail of them.
And so

you find your way home.”

*

“Eventually,” he said,
“it is all one poem.”

*

“Don't set the pen down
thinking there is no more
to say. There is always
more, if you pay attention.

Like blue sky breaking through.”

2010-08-31T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 31

Red Wing, Minnesota -
this is where I
cross the Mississippi,
cross the Mississippi,
cross the railroad tracks.

2010-08-30T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 30

Trees in the air
like swirling fog.

Swirling fog
like trees.

2010-08-28T04:37:00.000-05:00

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

“Let the tree
be oak. Do not
burden it

with yourself.”

*

“I do not
understand

how much
this is this.”

*

“Solitude is
bitter with its

sweetness.”

2010-08-27T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 27

This crow, and that one
ten miles back, they both
fly west - what

do they know
that I don't?

2010-08-26T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 26

Love
in a parking
lot - these

are not neighbors
who stand
so close,

each lost
in the gaze
of the other.

2010-08-25T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 25

Over the top of the fog,
over the promise of God,

into the shining blindness.

2010-08-24T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 24

Don't travel so fast you
disturb the silence.

2010-08-23T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 23

Arrive
by any means.

Love
with the heart

you have.

2010-08-22T04:37:00.001-05:00

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

“Dust devil
in the field,

the poet
speaking.”

*

“If this
isn't

a poem,
what is?”

*

“Someday

a poem of
a single

word, like
blessing.”

2010-08-21T04:37:00.000-05:00

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

“Give me wine,
yes, yes. I will

give you poems.”

*

“Poem, the leap
we'd make, if

we could.”

*

“Is not the silence
as important as

the sense?”

2010-08-20T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 20

The sudden white blindness.

2010-08-19T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 19

Wet sky so thick.
Cream on berries.

2010-08-18T04:37:00.001-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 18

That which
lifts the clouds.

That which
lifts these hills.

That which
makes me

lift my eyes.

2010-08-17T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 17

Variation on Basho #2

Yammering crowds.
Wind from all directions.
The broken flowers.

2010-08-16T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 16

Variation on Basho #1

Evening.
Bare branch

with crow.

2010-08-15T04:37:00.000-05:00

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

“Having nothing
to say,” he said,

“does not make me
any less the poet.”

*

“It will collapse
without that word.
If only

you knew which.”

*

“Sometimes
nothing more
than scratches
on paper.

Sometimes
nothing more
than the need
to scratch
on paper.”

2010-08-14T04:37:00.000-05:00

THREE from
THE OLD POET SAYS

“When the master
throws out your offering

say Thanks.”

*

“Well-chewed vowels
is what you need, with

some of them
stuck in your teeth.”

*

“Why so many
red-tails
in your work?”
they asked.

“To see the world
the way it is.”

2010-08-13T04:37:00.000-05:00

LINES FOR AUGUST 13

Ruffle of sky
dragging the hillside.

What makes sense
in such greyness?