I notice myself noticing
but am I really and if so
what are we to make of it
notice every blade of tall
grass in its varied sameness
shining clear in the slanting
sunlight ear-plugged silence
screaming with life and flow
restart the mower and mow on
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Other Beauty
nothing real is as real as the dream
connection missed in a moment of
distraction there there the occasion
to know the embodied mysterious
in me the yearning glimpse of other
beauty yearning equally toward me
but life goes on taking us apart time
reasserts its hold as the music ends
connection missed in a moment of
distraction there there the occasion
to know the embodied mysterious
in me the yearning glimpse of other
beauty yearning equally toward me
but life goes on taking us apart time
reasserts its hold as the music ends
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Leaving Too Late
a whole world dies when I wake up
friends of major years a potent tissue
of reciprocal feelings a son returning
from the west tickets to Carnegie Hall
we go out for a walk too lightly dressed
in a tiny French car not strong enough
for a vertical hill spelunk an empty house
delay leaving too late to make the concert
unless congestion pricing makes it faster
traffic conquered in the intervening years
the son grown up winters not as chilling
cars a novelty precious loves alive again
friends of major years a potent tissue
of reciprocal feelings a son returning
from the west tickets to Carnegie Hall
we go out for a walk too lightly dressed
in a tiny French car not strong enough
for a vertical hill spelunk an empty house
delay leaving too late to make the concert
unless congestion pricing makes it faster
traffic conquered in the intervening years
the son grown up winters not as chilling
cars a novelty precious loves alive again
Saturday, April 07, 2018
The Right Hotel
sometimes you just have to move
to a different hotel the right hotel
makes all the difference where it is
the vibe how well it is run can rescue
the whole experience of being there
in Barcelona for example or Rome
you can the enjoy the art and food
and have a wonderful time together
to a different hotel the right hotel
makes all the difference where it is
the vibe how well it is run can rescue
the whole experience of being there
in Barcelona for example or Rome
you can the enjoy the art and food
and have a wonderful time together
Wednesday, April 04, 2018
The New Chair
the new chair sits in the living room
wondering about the other furniture
and how it will ever be able to fit in
I like the new chair better it is not so
puffy I don't sink in so deep the arms
don't push my shoulders up as much
the new chair a tasteful bluish tweed
is not offended by the old upholstery
which is something of a hodgepodge
I sit in the new chair wondering if I
even need a footstool new ones are
too spendy the old one has ugly legs
the new chair feels firmer more erect
I am more relaxed less compromised
by the old one's frumpy implications
time to move on even if we thought it
adequate I sat here morning and night
years passed my habits might change
wondering about the other furniture
and how it will ever be able to fit in
I like the new chair better it is not so
puffy I don't sink in so deep the arms
don't push my shoulders up as much
the new chair a tasteful bluish tweed
is not offended by the old upholstery
which is something of a hodgepodge
I sit in the new chair wondering if I
even need a footstool new ones are
too spendy the old one has ugly legs
the new chair feels firmer more erect
I am more relaxed less compromised
by the old one's frumpy implications
time to move on even if we thought it
adequate I sat here morning and night
years passed my habits might change
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Easter
thank God means the one with the capital G
who gives us our genes and circumstances of
birth and ability and lets us sink or swim accordingly
we have to honor Him/Her orthographically even if
we don't believe there's any more to it than that
and honor Easter because of what it formerly meant
eggs giant bunnies new clothes and getting outside
less bundled up music appropriate to the occasion
still remembering who we used to be and still are
who gives us our genes and circumstances of
birth and ability and lets us sink or swim accordingly
we have to honor Him/Her orthographically even if
we don't believe there's any more to it than that
and honor Easter because of what it formerly meant
eggs giant bunnies new clothes and getting outside
less bundled up music appropriate to the occasion
still remembering who we used to be and still are
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Elapsed Life
word flow echoes attitude
entities exist when named
grammar measures time
elapsed life accumulates
in postcards from abroad
forgotten books preserve
entities exist when named
grammar measures time
elapsed life accumulates
in postcards from abroad
forgotten books preserve
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Love Better
light an hour earlier flowers
blooming all about us warm
when it was cold the shape
of the body changes not so
tall or smooth or strong age
keeping up with the season
reaches even into my bed I
report facts without opinion
hoping optimism will arise
with the sun we both love
better after all these years
blooming all about us warm
when it was cold the shape
of the body changes not so
tall or smooth or strong age
keeping up with the season
reaches even into my bed I
report facts without opinion
hoping optimism will arise
with the sun we both love
better after all these years
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Ever Young
Now that I am twenty-six, I feel older than ever. No one will believe what I say. We don't count, for example. Anything seems to mean something. Everyone else is younger than I ever was. Older people have forgotten what it was like to be alive. Horrible. You knew you were making a mistake but you wanted to do it anyway. You thought you could take it. Wrong was the higher right, like Trump. (I can't believe you said that.) I was developing my taste so I could dispense with thinking, thinking I knew what people were trying to do, and why. Now I understand. I will never be old or ever young.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
In the Dark
what I didn't say didn't fit
how she had to insist on being
herself in her own terminology
embarrassing missteps intimate
misunderstandings grotesque
attempts to obliterate desire
or find another truer way
what I didn't say saved face
the poet's lost illusion wasted
words jumbled into other sense
pain reinterpreted as pleasure
filth as a higher cleanliness
space as time spent reading
looking for another North Pole
what I didn't say stays lost
unexcavated ore undiscovered
as if no one had ever been there
looking for meaning in the dark
flickering word torches dropped
go out relit seem sadder still
not to have honored everything
how she had to insist on being
herself in her own terminology
embarrassing missteps intimate
misunderstandings grotesque
attempts to obliterate desire
or find another truer way
what I didn't say saved face
the poet's lost illusion wasted
words jumbled into other sense
pain reinterpreted as pleasure
filth as a higher cleanliness
space as time spent reading
looking for another North Pole
what I didn't say stays lost
unexcavated ore undiscovered
as if no one had ever been there
looking for meaning in the dark
flickering word torches dropped
go out relit seem sadder still
not to have honored everything
Wednesday, February 07, 2018
Real Feeling
if I can change the words
does that change what is
knee strong skin smooth
has the Moor real feeling
the English Jew real life
can centuries' cruelty be
erased the earth reborn
innocent and perfectible
as an uncorrupted child
can what I merely think
remake a broken world
does that change what is
knee strong skin smooth
has the Moor real feeling
the English Jew real life
can centuries' cruelty be
erased the earth reborn
innocent and perfectible
as an uncorrupted child
can what I merely think
remake a broken world
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Cover Up
impending disintegration his poise
shimmers in thinking how thin it is
how improbable not to be threatened
or houseless hungry sick and alone
only suddenly finally falling apart
this not to be talked about or blogged
not wanting anyone to know how I
feel when I feel this way cover up
keep warm drink plenty of fluids as
systems collapse and chaos reigns
shimmers in thinking how thin it is
how improbable not to be threatened
or houseless hungry sick and alone
only suddenly finally falling apart
this not to be talked about or blogged
not wanting anyone to know how I
feel when I feel this way cover up
keep warm drink plenty of fluids as
systems collapse and chaos reigns
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Always
what time where I'll be there
if I'm not it's not because I
no longer care what you do
I'm as interested as you are
or would be if I had time to
and I do I always have time
if I'm not it's not because I
no longer care what you do
I'm as interested as you are
or would be if I had time to
and I do I always have time
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Still Arising
Thinking without writing is like fucking air — there's not enough pressure to make it count. It's not that I don't exist, it's that the day goes by and doesn't leave a mark. Not that it matters. The world is already scribbled over. A notch? An explanation or excuse? No one has to read it. I need to write, not edifices like Roth, I'm not a novelist, but honor passing time by registering its strange effect. Age is whatever you happen to be now. Less energy still arises.
Wednesday, January 03, 2018
A Note to Readers
I believe this is over, at least in the form it has settled into in the last five or ten years, the wispy little fragments of mostly self-reflective thought. It's getting to be a burden. I have shown that I can write a poem every day. If it doesn't arise in the morning, I can squeeze something out before bedtime. I can start with something random and almost always open it up into some kind of content. I am still engaged and tickled by the process, and I nail it fairly often, but it feels like I'm going around in circles. All these short poems have made it impossible to write any long poems. So I am changing the rules. I don't have to write a blog post every day. It doesn't have to be a poem. I may write stories. Thus this notice: that I am taking a few days off, but I'm still here, still writing, looking to renew this pleasing practice.
Tuesday, January 02, 2018
Too Obvious
what I am actually talking about
often goes unmentioned as if the
real particulars are too obvious or
boring the inner processes more
meaningful than what happens in
real life without the artificial form
and careful structure of a novel or
play with acts and a denouement
unless something terrible happens
that isn't what you wanted to say
often goes unmentioned as if the
real particulars are too obvious or
boring the inner processes more
meaningful than what happens in
real life without the artificial form
and careful structure of a novel or
play with acts and a denouement
unless something terrible happens
that isn't what you wanted to say
Monday, January 01, 2018
Stop Quick
I only know what I happen to know
my thought a scribble of ignorance
reading for pleasure and forgetting
trivially literate by social accident
stop quick before it is impossible
before translation replaces words
what can be said was already said
unless being me is actually different
my thought a scribble of ignorance
reading for pleasure and forgetting
trivially literate by social accident
stop quick before it is impossible
before translation replaces words
what can be said was already said
unless being me is actually different
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