May, 2013
A Poem for Goodbye
I'm standing at the door,
one foot out, one foot in.
I turn back,
surprised, because I
well, I thought I would have more
to say to you,
something that sounded like
goodbye.
But
Zero.
The zero never says goodbye
because the zero never ends.
It only begins
and begins again.
I'm standing at the door,
one foot out, one foot in.
I turn back,
surprised, because I
well, I thought I would have more
to say to you,
something that sounded like
goodbye.
But
Zero.
The zero never says goodbye
because the zero never ends.
It only begins
and begins again.
January-April, 2013
The Ghost
In winter,
the brown grass
cracks beneath the bootsole,
and the pond,
full of autumn and bluegreen with cold,
lies still
beneath the poplars.
There is you
and here is me
The sky, aloof and expansive,
keeps us together
even as the expensive
bus fares keep us
apart.
But sometimes,
I stand still
on my way down the gravel road
and look out toward the pasture.
I think of the past
and how far gone it is.
Grief passes through my skin,
an understanding,
a ghost.
I am alone.
Beyond the barbed fence,
the brown cow
and its calf
turn their bells toward home.
December, 2012
Acts of Disappearance
Act I.
As for the magician's cloak
shadow outside/ blood within
the shadow side
makes things disappear
and the bloodside reminds us
how much oblivion hurts
I am calling you
to witness my own disappearance
ta da.
and as for the black plastic wand, white-tipped
a metaphor
for the dark inside man/woman/hero
unseen beneath the pure white of the tip
as the unsinkable ship disappears
beneath the crested wave
to you, girl in the box,
below the chainsaw
I say--
the true iceberg is hidden
you are sunk
because of it
its point and gash unseat you hero/heroine
point/gash
point/gash
all the ships
of the world
are sunk!
Act I.
As for the magician's cloak
shadow outside/ blood within
the shadow side
makes things disappear
and the bloodside reminds us
how much oblivion hurts
I am calling you
to witness my own disappearance
ta da.
and as for the black plastic wand, white-tipped
a metaphor
for the dark inside man/woman/hero
unseen beneath the pure white of the tip
as the unsinkable ship disappears
beneath the crested wave
to you, girl in the box,
below the chainsaw
I say--
the true iceberg is hidden
you are sunk
because of it
its point and gash unseat you hero/heroine
point/gash
point/gash
all the ships
of the world
are sunk!
September- November, 2012
from Memory House
|
Ocean Views
a.) a new way of keeping time the day after I dreamed of you grey, shell-less beach ocean without sound ocean ocean ocean shh shh shh stiff-legged shorebirds feasting— the burrowing crabs-- this new way of keeping time: ocean etches shell that once held a living thing in its clasped, alabaster palms, now opened, worn down, and empty time hollows sand from the vessel. oh ovary oh ocean read more... |
"c.) separate from me |
August, 2012
from Incantations Against Oblivion
Incantations Against Oblivion
I compare you to the leaf and to its shadow
and to the shadow of the leaf’s shadow.
I seek you in the arch of each browbone and in the thickness and the heft of it
I wait for you.
You leave
and the leaf falls. The branch is bereft.
Bird song severed from the throat. An unburdened throat;
a disembodied song
and I sing it.
I know you. And I know your bells.
I hear the dark-toned thrum of them. I understand their peal and their timbre.
The shell of my ear and the rim of my mouth
echo their vibrato all the afternoon.
I compare you to the leaf and to its shadow, and to the shadow of the leaf’s shadow.
Read more...
and to the shadow of the leaf’s shadow.
I seek you in the arch of each browbone and in the thickness and the heft of it
I wait for you.
You leave
and the leaf falls. The branch is bereft.
Bird song severed from the throat. An unburdened throat;
a disembodied song
and I sing it.
I know you. And I know your bells.
I hear the dark-toned thrum of them. I understand their peal and their timbre.
The shell of my ear and the rim of my mouth
echo their vibrato all the afternoon.
I compare you to the leaf and to its shadow, and to the shadow of the leaf’s shadow.
Read more...