My poem “Five” is included in the summer edition of The High Window. Many thanks to editor David Cooke for taking this piece. The issue is spectacular – I’m delighted to have a poem appear in it.
Poem Up at The High Window
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Tag Archives: philosophy
Recording of “Shadow Charm”
Shadow Charm
When you place your mouth
to my ear
how does the ocean know
which wave
to relinquish?
In your darkness I find teeth.
Blessings of the meek-throated.
A ribbed tunnel. Codicil.
Your tongue scrawls: too late,
the unsaid nerve-sparked and
dilated too late
And my skin replies: with
lightning all strikes
count to each its charge
“Shadow Charm” was published in August 2017 in The Icarus Anthology.
Steps
Steps
Up or down, it’s all the same.
How the knee or hip strains under the planet’s
surge. Opposite, and unequally felt.
One knows pain, the other does not.
Forever spinning, we remain still,
moving in place. Wanting.
As the heart pumps,
stronger for its labor,
accustomed to the effort.
Portrait of Donald Trump as Poet Transforming into a Creature from Out of a Francis Bacon Painting
Ah, this poem by one of my favorite poets!
Sometimes I feel like I’m several billion dollars
worth of tax free income but all you want to do
is kill my high. Like I’ve just had a
poetry reading in an elegant theater,
attended by three hundred people,
which for poetry is big, it’s huge, but
all this guy with a poetry blog publishes
is a blurry photo of some sad bar where
ten drunk guys are nursing their craft beers
while I stand alone in a corner reading
my magnificent poem about how great I am.
That’s not how it’s supposed to happen.
And that’s why I didn’t have some other poet
read his work at my inauguration because
I’m the only poet worth reading nowadays
and I was too busy to read my own poems
while being inaugurated as the forty-fifth
and best president ever that day so screw you.
It’s because of people like you that…
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Recording of Self-Portrait with Knife
Self-Portrait with Knife
Lacking benefit of prayer or belief,
it slips through flesh,
praising its temerity. Or,
parting the onion’s core, reclaims
the right to weep.
How many nights have we shared
these pleasures? I smooth the blade
with steel, listening to the fine hum.
“Self-Portrait with Knife” is included in my just released micro-chapbook Only This, available for free download from Origami Poems Project.
Water Witching, We Hear
Water Witching, We Hear
The rattle of stalks
along dirt roads,
whispery days
sifting through
parched
light,
you say
patience, my
friend, and again,
patience.
“Water Witching, We Hear” first appeared on the blog in April 2017.
Jackboy’s Pride
Abused, abandoned and left to die of thirst or predation almost sixteen years ago on a largely uninhabited county road terminating at our rural property’s entrance, Jackboy brought much laughter and comfort to our household. Tireless shadow, friend, writing partner, loyal companion and protector, he was, and will remain forever, a good boy – in his estimation, the highest possible praise. Nearly four years have passed. We miss him.
Jackboy’s Pride
Through patience,
recognition eases in: the patterns
of repetition and praise
and joy in task. The orange ball. A scorpion’s
tail. How we delight in sharing each
victory. And with the breeze
runs other unspoken tales – a neighbor’s
cruelty, bones, the pregnant raccoon
lumbering through the cedars. But nothing
deters the jump and the following drop.
He nips heels where none exist. We follow.
Recording of “Balance”
Balance
Navigating
by stars,
one ball
buried,
another
gathering,
the dung
beetle
straight-lines,
maintains
position,
forever
looking forward
and up.
“Balance” first appeared here in February 2016, and is included in my just released micro-chapbook Only This, available for free download from Origami Poems Project.
“Nightdreams” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
3 Poems Up at MockingHeart Review
I have the honor of being the featured poet in Volume 3, Issue 2 of MockingHeart Review. I am grateful to editor Clare Martin and her tireless dedication. She is a blessing!
Even the Darkness
Even the Darkness
We must, she said,
open ourselves.
Like desert
to the night
sky, like a baby’s
mouth. Or words
in the unread book.
I nod, say
I understand, turn
and close the door.
Even the darkness
knows better.
O at the Edges 