Athena's Owl and the Learned Swallows

Wide-eyed on edge 
Of red-tiled roof, 
The studious looking owl 
May not make out much 
In the late morning light, 
But one thing seems clear: 
These nesting early birds strafing it 
Till it vanishes have done their homework well, 
And can now return to that brooding business 
They so instinctively and abruptly left behind— 
It’s as if they knew 
Wisdom rests not in taking in 
What rears its head before us, 
But what to make of what 
Nests in the empty space 
Once that knowledge takes wing 
And flies away. 

(p)articles of absorption

rifle

                    (white-

washed

                    stone

wall)

cracks

                   (blood

red

wind-

                   flowers

                   seep

through)

Leave-taking

I read somewhere 
That ashes are the last 

Trees to welcome leaves, 
The first to let them go— 

In the meantime so brief, 
So breathtaking an interlude 

It bears repeating: The last 
To welcome them, the first 

To let them go.



 

Bankrupt

You wager the world would be no poorer 
Had it no poetry, though five will get you ten 

You’ll never get rich staking your life on it. 

Natural Selection

Seed, what on earth’s got into you? 

There you go rooting and taking off 
In the most ridiculous 

Of surroundings—say jammed 
Between some blooming sheer- 

Rock face or surfacing through 
A sea of noxious black 

Asphalt—never where 
I so lovingly sow you,

Like this nursery bed here. 
You know what? 

I think I’ll stop being so 
Goddamn caring— 

From now on, it’s every man 
For himself, like it or not.