Showing posts with label Poem of the Week. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poem of the Week. Show all posts

Friday, December 19, 2014

the winter road

she rides the soft
shoulders of daydreams
inevitably
sliding down to the cold pavement

reality is so concrete

if you’ll pardon the pun
pardon the plain
yet not so plain

there are hidden hills
and twisting turns just
around go look around
go slow
those ice-blue eyes those thoughts that
drift

could hold on fierce and tight
if she could name that crazy-restless road
at last
could sleep or wake

no more middle, no more dwelling
in the gloaming
that hard pavement scuffs her skin
so easy

no question which is stronger
yet when the pavement breaks
it is broken
when her skin has bled it will
heal again

again, again,
scarred but whole
not yet wholly scarred
still
 
tender
soft-shouldered dreamer
this traveler unknown
along the winter road

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

on patience or not

When is it my turn?
     Life doesn’t give turns.
     Life just is.
There’s no cosmic queue.
     No millennial lottery.
Life just is,
and is,
     and is.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

as the front moves through


and the wind is blowing and it caresses my skin
but not as sweetly as you would
          the wind is simply the wind
                    no strings
                    no disappointments
                              no intimacies
                    but it sings me a song, sometimes, one I can never wholly translate into
                    words, cannot break down to little pieces
and surely that is love too
because it’s beautiful

and surely I would look out of place in a lovely moment like that
          anyway
rumpled, careless me, with windblown hair
and penchant for doing the awkward thing
          are you out there
somewhere?
          I can’t tell.
          I am a simple thing
          yet so, so complex, so full of tiny
          twists and turns I cannot wholly see myself
          no matter how I spin
          and leap and hop
                    my lonely dance
this lonely dancer, crooked hem draggling, somehow—
          dirty already?
the earth is soft beneath my big bare feet
          it tickles and I laugh
                    hike up my skirt
          quit thinking about how I must look
          long enough
                    to be 

flowerheads bob in the wind in the garden
          where are you?
I am no beacon in the darkness I do not shine
a hidden prize or one not worth the finding
          I can’t tell.
          any more than I know whether or not
          I’ll ever be kissed down the line
                    of my spine
          and cherished in a broken but wonderful
          human way
find me the human way
          I should know but apparently I don’t

when will this ramble end?
          when will the pity party, the fantasy, the yearning,
          the idle woolgathering stop?
                    summer mornings and fall afternoons
                    someone who pauses to really listen
                    to see what’s below the surface
I yearn for this, even I
even big little old young ugly beautiful me
          and the flowerheads bob
                    the wind blows
                              the leaves rustle

Thursday, December 19, 2013

mileage

and the runner was the edge
and the edge was soft
and in that soft, that soft, that sweet
and tangy sweat, hard breathing
and ache; twinge
and creak of bone, of joint
and jarring impact
and moments of light, of light, so light
and easy

Monday, October 14, 2013

legend

and the sparks flew down from the mountain
and the shots rang out from the sea
and he slew the restless wanderer
and made himself home for me

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

more/less


and when the world
comes crashing in
like it always do
I’ll

every time the sun rises
paints the sky
I say
Hey, God
well done
love you
too

hold you tight
in my mind
if nothing
else
dreaming
of into for
the reality

orange-maroon globe
this morning
perfectly round
delicate
strong
and set
in hazy summer dawn
sky
misty gray-pink

Monday, August 19, 2013

eight bells

that
cussed white dress
lulls me into
security
by standing
so quietly in the
corner
of my mind
hands folded
behind her
back
until the odd
bewildering
moments when she
leaps
forward
voluminous
skirts flapping
and fluttering
to remind me she’s
there
and isn’t
going
anywhere

Thursday, May 9, 2013

one very long measure

soft promenade
graceful
circle
(dancing)
eloquent arms
yearning
reaching
poetry of all, of none, of this
(strength)
fast, slow
in, out
up, down
around, around, around
and hold
stretch
(weakness)
graceful fingertips, wrists
arch of feet, of spine, of neck
whirl
tilt
revolve
leap
(bittersweet ache)
to make you feel
to make you feel
to make you feel
(my love)

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

wants and wants

I bash her on the head
and sink her
into my deepest, darkest dungeon
but she rises
oh
she rises
again, and again
her times of slumber
shorten,
her strength grows

again she rises,
awakening again
and again
I swallow her
with all my will
I push her down—
not yet, not
yet again

could I but promise her
soon
soon, my darling, soon
oh my darling

will soon ever come?
will she ever
fly free?
or must I
deny her an existence
again and again
and again
and oh—
again

Thursday, November 15, 2012

once more

Sing the golden song

Sing the light that gleams along
that gleams along the curves
the curves
the curves

Sing the kind warmth
the gracious warmth
the mellow, mellow warmth

Sing the sinking orb of sun
Sing the blue, blue, blue of sky

Sing the golden song
Sing the loving song

Sing, and sing, and sing

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

band

open a bottle of wine,
listen to Over the Rhine
we’re going to pull through,
Karen tells me
we’re going to pull through

let the melancholy meld to beautiful
let the song sink down in
let the possible stay possible,
unburdened by the probable

juxtapose your ordinary self
with your extraordinary soul
feel the tension humming on the wire
feel the piano play
we’re all late bloomers
when it comes to love

Monday, August 13, 2012

upon others

hindsight
should be used
with great care
with great mercy
and
as sparingly
as possible

instead
stick with
rocket pops
on especially hot days
and
still-warm cookies
otherwise

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

four fours make sixteen

you are not
precious
to me
behold

my great
smallness
my small
amazingness

general pathfinder
rock-skipper
poet of the next
tomorrow

pierce my
pounding heart
one-handed
the other tied to

Monday, April 16, 2012

the right words

pick up a
pen
     pour
out my heart
and then and
     then
it will all
make
     sense
all make
and
     once
it's all out
the pieces surely
     will
fall
together
     together
and this
ache will be
     done
done in
by
the right
     words

Friday, December 9, 2011

just now

this muffling quiet of softly
falling snow
all around lazy white
flakes, plump and solemn, steady
and unhurried, untroubled
by wind
untrammeled by unthinking
boots, cars, snowmobiles...
anything
except, perhaps, the tiny, delicate
steps of birds
saucy cardinal or little tufted titmouse
or bright-eyed chickadee

gone the robin, gone
the red-winged blackbird, gone
the noisy squawk of summer
winter comes soft
and quiet
and chill

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

dim interlude

haunted by memories
     ghost touches
your hand
     on my shoulder
your breath
     against my cheek
memories, only

only memories
     without substance
without shape
     without warmth
cold, alone
     I shiver
    
call for an exorcism
     bright sunlight
and fresh breeze
     and soft, soaking rain
banish these ghosts
     again again again

Monday, August 8, 2011

snooze

I kissed you last night
in my dream.
You were strong, and sweet,
and loved me like fire loves flame.
I felt the pieces come together—a new whole
from our whole halves
an interlocking
mind, soul, flesh
together
ignited with just a kiss.

And then somehow I was careening down a zip line toward a giant pile of sheep and the new girl from my department was there and we were singing Christmas carols and there were Nazis, somehow, and that hot guy from Band of Brothers though I could have sworn we were in Canada and then my alarm was going off and I
woke up.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

beginner-level love haiku

1. dream

walking down the street
holding your hand. around the
corner, happiness

2. interlude

summer sun shining
leaves shimmer, gold-edged and green
cool shadows shelter

3. reality

I have smiled your way
seven hundred times, but you
never take notice

Friday, June 3, 2011

twin cycle tour

I wanted to write
you but now
I’m not quite sure
why.
Come home.
Yes, that’s what
I wanted
to say.
Come home, come
home.
The words churn
circles
spinning their wheels
in my
heart.
No logic behind it, no
concrete
reasoning, just come
come home, come home, come home.
Have I said that
before?
Perhaps.
Perhaps
I am not as good at moving on
as I think I am. As
you are.
You are always
moving
on.
My wheels just
spin.
Come home, come home,
come home
and solve this mystery
with me
once and for
all.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

for me, from no one

I love you all the time.

I love you with dirt on your hands and under your fingernails—smudged on the knees of your gardening pants. I love the bits of twig and leaf stuck in your hair.

I love the way you drink conversational coffee, cradling the mug in both hands, looking not quite at me across the booth as you string thoughts together. I love the way you talk, intelligent and whimsical and humble and just plain interesting.

I love you when your feet can’t help but tap to the music, when you groove in the car—how you twirl down the hallway when you think no one’s watching—how your eyes light up when I ask you to dance.

I love you all the time.

I love you in the kitchen, apron-clad, both hands busy but not frantic, singing with the radio as you roll out pie crust or chop carrots. I love the way you offer no excuse when you lick the beater—and the bowl—and the spatula.

I love you when you laugh—at yourself, or any other hundred things—your grin wide and unashamed, or lopsided and wry. I love that it is so easy to make you laugh.

I love you with cheeks blooming pink with exertion, sweat trickling down your temples, gathering in wet patches across your back and belly. I love the way you lay it all out—as if you missed the memo on how to play like a lady.

I love you all the time.

I love you lost in a story, your eyes fixed on the words before you but your mind far from the chair you sit in—sideways, legs across the arm, head leaning against the plush, curved wing.

I love you dolled up and sweet-smelling, wearing a dress of your own making. I love the way you hold your head high, the erect bearing of your shoulders—your walk, how it subtly changes gears when you slip on your girlish shoes. I love that you still look like you, dressed up or down—always, always simply you.

I love you when you cartwheel sloppily across the lawn, climb a tree, scramble over the boulders. There is poetry in the way you run headlong down the big dune and straight into the lake.

I love you all the time.