Stoics In The Doldrums

 

What say we finally 

Snap out of it, chum— 

 

The wind that took us 

This way and that has nothing 

More to give us—it’s about time 

 

We live with that. 

 

 

 

Haiku: Save Your Breath

 

What does a poem have 

To say to someone who knows 

 

How not to listen? 

 

 

 

Word Of Mouth Sadomasochistic Poetics

 

The last time I heard, 

The voice of the muse 

 

I’d been listening to all 

These years had not 

 

Come clean with me as much 

As poetic decorum warranted— 

 

Clearly, what she’d wanted 

From me was consummate, 

 

Complete fealty masquerading 

As poetic licentiousness, 

 

And not by any twist 

Of a garbled imagination, 

 

A license to play down- 

Right dirty with my mind.

 

 

 

 

 

Cusp

 

yel- 

low 

 

little

sun- 

 

lit 

leaf 

 

hanging, twirling on 

a spider’s lone 

 

silver thread, how many 

twists and turns before you 

 

flutter 

in 

 

to 

the

 

twi- 

light 

just

 

ahead. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stoic Doggerel Much, Much After Diogenes

 

Dogs love barking 

At strangers, mutts 

 

Like you, too.