Friday, August 31, 2012

Poet's Bugaboo


Jiminy Cricket! 

Sometimes I’m afraid 
I’m past all grace when 

I feel so smug I expect 
My next feat to come swaggering 

On all six legs out from under the tongue 
Of an army surplus boot and spit 

Flush in my face. 


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Speak Not Double Talk of Death


I fear all that can be said 
Has been said before, also 

That nothing has been said before— 
This nothing is what terrifies me 

More than any gibberish said before. 


Monday, August 27, 2012

Great Blue Heron on the Wing

—after reading Robinson Jeffers’ “Autumn Evening” 


Slow wit, if you think this 
Bird ungainly, don’t — 
Imagine how 

Ridiculous you look, trying 
To take off after
Second thoughts again. 



Saturday, August 25, 2012

Nightshade


Dearies, 

I want nothing to do with light- 
Hearted blank verse or rhyming 

Structures like ear, hear, near— 
I want nothing but tendrils 

Untouched by bittersweet 
Nothings clinging 

To bier after bier after bier. 


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Building for the Future: One Less Vacant Lot


At this point, I don’t know 

What is more edifying—looking 
At photos of the World Trade Center 
Before and after 9/11 or reading 
Eliot’s Wasteland for the nth time— 

Any way you look at it, 
It looks like we’re long past 
The point of no return 
On our investment. 


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Fired


Any debts incurred shall be paid in full 
When the sack in question leaves

The coal factory on its last legs 
And empties the proceeds 

Into the blackened hearth. 


Sunday, August 19, 2012

Rendezvous Point



Two unearthly bodies, the full 
Moon rising, the sun 
Setting, meeting 

The cypresses 

Standing fast over 
An unmoving sea 
Of marble crosses. 

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