Tag Archives: philosophy

In This I Find You Again

Posted on by
41

image

In This I Find You Again

If there is truth to be found
let someone find it. The yellow

rose rests in its jar. Day and
night it looks out through the glass

at the world of altered
lines, sensing, perhaps, beauty

through its failure to prevent
fading. Each morning I wake

and think of you. The hibiscus
on our patio readies itself to blossom,

but pauses as if to prolong
the moment, waiting for a reason

to end its denial. Then it unfolds.
You are all I care to find.

* * *
This first appeared in June 2015.

image

Nocturne (Blue Grosbeak)

Posted on by
36

file0001285095497

Nocturne (Blue Grosbeak)

Why tremble
when nothing
arrives to be seen?

The architecture
of the day
comes and goes

in the same
heartbeat,
a disturbance

more felt than heard.
But listen.
The grosbeak sings

his presence
and departs,
leaving behind

the echo
of a motion
blending with night.

The air is cool.
A leaf utters
its own message

and falls
unnoticed.
Nothing awaits it.

 

This first appeared in February 2015.

file8891250781951

Arthritis

Posted on by
39

photo(10)

Arthritis

If at night I stray in thought,
dreaming of nimble fingers

and my departed dog’s walk,
will you smile

when I scratch his absent ear
and apologize for the times

I failed him? Even combined,
all the words in these unread books

could never soothe the guilt
of leisure and complacency, nor

match the joy of jumping
for the kicked ball, no matter the

outcome, despite the consequences.

image

Stone Path (after Tu Mu)

Posted on by
45

file0001060591982

Stone Path (after Tu Mu)

High up the cold mountain a stone path rises
to the village in the white clouds.
I stop the carriage and inhale the evening fragrance,
its red, frosted maple leaves richer than any spring flower.

I may have inserted a bit more of myself into this adaptation than is my usual custom. I hope it does not intrude.

The transliteration on Chinese-poems.com reads:

Far on cold mountain stone path slant
White cloud live place be households
Stop carriage because love maple forest evening
Frost leaf red than second month flower

* * *

This adaptation first appeared  in October 2014.

file0001982262771

4 Poems Up at The Basil O’Flaherty

Posted on by
42

ireland
I have four poems up at The Basil O’Flaherty, an online lit-zine based in Ireland. All four have appeared on this blog at one time or another.

Requiem

Posted on by
35

file0001789222317(1)

Requiem

That it begins.
And like a wave which appears
only to lose itself

in dispersal, rising whole again
yet incomplete in all but
form, it returns.

Music. The true magic.

Each day the sun passes over the river,
bringing warmth to it. Such

devotion inspires movement: a cello in the
darkness, the passage of sparrows. Sighs.

The currents are of our own
making. If we listen do we also

hear? These bodies. These silent voices.

* * *

“Requiem” was written in the 80s, in response to a piece of music. It made its first appearance here in February 2015.

DSC02722

Still Life with Silence

Posted on by
21

 

stump 


Still Life with Silence

Not two, but one,
invisible

and stretched between
stump and fence,

filled with
time, defining

implication. Empty
the pitcher. Accept

its limitations.
Listen to what is not.

pitcher

 

Aubade (Inca Dove)

Posted on by
33

file0002005846098

Aubade (Inca Dove)

Such delicacy
evokes the evolution of hand
and wing, a growth

reflecting all we’ve come
to know. Two doves

sit on the fence, cold wind ruffling
their feathers. What brings them
to this place of no

shelter, of wind and rain
and clarity defied? Fingers

often remember what the mind
cannot. Silence
complicates our mornings.

 

This first appeared here in February 2015, and was originally published in The Balcones Review in 1987. Seems I was enthralled with birds back then, too…

FenceDrama1

My Poem “Two Cranes on a Snowy Pine” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize

Posted on by
139

snow

The editors of Panoply have nominated my poem, “Two Cranes on a Snowy Pine,” for a Pushcart Prize. Many thanks to editors Ryn Holmes, Jeff Santosuosso and Andrea Walker for this honor, the first such nomination I’ve ever received.

Their full list of nominees can be found here.

See the woodblock print that sparked this poem: Hokusai

crane

My Poem, Conjunctions and Other Synapses, is The Blue Nib Poem of the Day

Posted on by
13

boot

 

My poem, Conjunctions and Other Synapses, is today’s featured Poem of the Day on The Blue Nib site. Many thanks to The Blue Nib team!

 

dryer