Poetry

NOSTALGIA OF A WORKNIGHT She’s weary as an unused toy—unwrapped, not touched. She’s not hidden but by herself in back of a toybox, under the snapped off arm of her last doll. She thinks a shelf might be nice. She’d like to hear the soft click as her nightlight went dark and slipped into a sleep...

The Work of Art It is just another day To be proud Happy with who I am With high self Esteem And the old broom and Mop at hand.   At the Doctor Trust, to care about Who I am As if to let me have My say Pad and pen the end Or give me a couple Words as a pathway.

A Fever of Living Some nights step lightly, like lily-shadows in blue water- apparitions in transit, between dreams. She awakens in a translucent purgatory- a tread from an incipient dream to a feverish slumber, to a body - a map of nocturnal metamorphosis, lacerated fish belly sewn with orange seams, eyes like butterflies in rivulets of pee, unmade and...

The Trickster Kokopelli, I know what I know. You are the mysterious humpbacked flute-playing Casanova of the cliff dwellers of the American Southwest. Kokopelli, you are the carousing peace-loving traveling salesman seducing women in villages with your many gifts of music, dancing, and mischief. Kokopelli, having seen you in ancient Anasazi glyphs and rock art; and having spent time inside the...

RIVERS Should I multiply or divide my soul in rivers under sheltering domes? I have left bits of me in the Elbe and the Rhine. I have left liquid tears in the lighted Seine. Paris, Berlin, Dresden -- each city is an epic, a tome. In rose gardens in the day or beer-gardens at night I have ranged and roamed. The...

Apiary My friend Sharon raises bees. In her veil she cranks the handle of the silver bee smoker calming the hives. Bearding, swarming in the intimate harmony in which nectar becomes honey or beeswax candles for any altar. Scouts return with tales of pollen. The gilet jaunes swirl around the point Zero buzzing with anger at the money the rich will spend to...

VERTIGO The falcon soars far above us, a denizen of light and air circling different wind currents in a vastness that eludes us until he sees the smallest speck, a rabbit emerging from its hole, and he zooms down to capture it in less than a minute  -- like the vertigo of parachuting words on the pages of...

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma even the violence seems germane. same old Wichita, ain’t it? bomb every last life boat, make the bird on the bill soar free above that ancient tomb. a camera’s just one eye but damn if we don’t know how to whisk a crowd after wrongful frenzy.   the NRA pays less taxes than me  you won’t find that shrapnel wound in their tax ID #. the business end of muzzle is only prelude of holy creation. “be...

Word… Word is Brahman It emerges from Hiranyagarbh And wanders in the ether Man’s heart vibrates He hears its rapturous melody And sways in ecstasy And is lost in the sacred silence. The other day… The predator pounces upon the word And preserves the kill A dictionary is compiled It hardly objects But, is it at ease? Lexicons continue multiplying And then, words…words…words… Words sans soul   Across...

The Fog of Pain You told me not to worry. As many speakers would be along the way, entering through the different doors, could tell us about the stars’ songs, theories, and critical turns. But, do you know, in the rain-wet afternoon, among the full house audience, I was absent?...

Home When the tree shed all leaves under a blue naked sky, someone whispered: It’s spring. I sat a crow on the barren tree that melted down before the black bird escaped in to oblivion. Pebbles strewn around the pathway laughed & walked straight into my heart When I found the gate locked after a long journey, the road announced: You’re home.   Skeleton Standing alone in front, of...

Along the River We point out the different birds to one another. Like teenage boys showing off their knowledge of astronomy. Find goldfinches and cedar waxwings in the trees along the river, tiny redpolls and grosbeaks chasing gnats down below. In the water, cormorants lurk, wings spread like vultures night-herons stalk lumbering carp in slow...