Saturday, May 29, 2010

On a Sentence by Santayana

Know that

Its essence lies
Not in how

It is delivered,
But how

It is received by the minions
Condemned to repeat it.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Parnassian

You have not yet begun
The assault on the mountain

And already the air is making you giddy.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Look Homeward, Angel

Remember?

When you were good,
He’d let you stay

Up all night
And raise holy hell.

When you were bad,
He’d douse the lights,

Put you under
A dank stairwell.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Antediluvian

How utterly deep and profound
A poem

Unplumbed in the shallows
The deluge left behind.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Definitely Not Lemmings #21

My thanks to Lizeta for signing on as DNT #21! From what I've been able to find out (not much), she's an avid bicyclist and hails from my old neck of the woods, Washington State.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Chowing Down at the Wall Street Mission House

It is not easy to make a simile go on all fours.
—T.B. Macaulay

Like holy mackerel, there—
On all fours, ravenous

Biblical winged in
Sects eating the floor!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Monday, May 10, 2010

Poetry Lesson


And yet, we know something of bitterness—

This draining out of love in syllables
Teaches us, among other things, silence
And how to talk our way around it.

(My first published poem, Poetry Northwest, Winter 1970-71--going on forty and still teaching.)

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Farce

The plot

Thickened by far
Fetched remnants of earth

Like creatures
Jettisoned

In space, the absence
Of gravity continues

To play a major role.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...