Why Little Children--Like Trees--Are Afraid of Adults with Chain Saws

under the old 

growth is evermore virgin 

growth growing up— 


it’s telling 


the world the last thing 

we must do on this earth is 

hurry up. 

Twilight in Meligalas

There’s a promise 

Of rain in the stiff northwesterly 
Breeze blowing in from the gulf 
Of Kyparissia, thirty kilometers away, 

And the parched trees are nodding 
In unison yes, yes, yes, 
It’s been a good day; 

I’ve spent more than half 
Of my life planted here— 
What more can I say? 

Faux Deus Ex Machina

On the brink— 
Whatever to do? 
So tantalizing 

A thought came to him 
As he was about to jump 
To a forgone conclusion 

Out of the blue. 

None the Smarter at 71

Time was I thought I could think 
My way through life 
Using clever arguments, 

 
That it would be easy to imagine
A world where being 
Smart made you nobody’s fool—

 
Hard to believe now, 
How I ended up forgetting 
Only life makes life’s rules. 

The Privatization of the Self

"Let every soul submit himself 
Unto the authority of the higher powers. 
There is no power but of God. 
The powers that be are ordained of God". 
 --Romans 13.1 

Nowadays 

To make it worthwhile 
For the powers 

To be you have to 
Put in long hours down

A dark mine shaft deep 
In the heart 

Of the heart 
Of what is no longer 

God’s country 
And be forever 

Damned. 

Air of Acquiescence

Their slender stalks fastened 
With twine to thin reeds stuck 
In a brown, earthenware pot, 

The blood-red carnations nod 
In accord with each blustering gust, 
All the while suffusing the air 

They breathe 
With redolent dyes 
Of thick, heady musk. 

Hope Dies Last

You get up 
Every day hoping 
It won’t be your last 
And you go to bed wishing 
It had been. 

The Methuselah Code

To read the signs 
Of the times correctly 
And to write at least 

One word a day remains 
No small feat providing you 
Reach a thousand. 

Waiting for the Coroner's Report (A Greek Proverb for Our Times)

In the meantime, 

In the house of the hanged man, 
Nobody brings up the subject 

Of a rope. 

Virtuoso

Think before you leap— 
With each vaunting 
Step you take, this

Star-studded universe 
You were born into wants 
Nothing better than to cradle you

Back down 
To earth to dream to sleep.