Jul 5, 2009 | Haiku, Poetry |
Blue Sky Walking in mountainsmy thoughts are like those few cloudsdrifting in blue sky Not Six I’m back from Parisand I’ve brought myself with me –I’m sixty, not six How Many How many of meare walking through rainy woodsbeside pock-marked lake? Foolish Questions I go on askingjust the same foolish questionsas when I was six Inklings Inklings of order,not at Key West, but besidethe old river Seine Mediterranean The sea is so blue,not wine dark – my good fortuneto swim in the blue On The Way To St. Agnes A thistle blooms bluelike nothing I’ve ever seen –sky comes down to earth The Damned Wind The gray of my beardrecalls the dandelion –let damned wind disperse Silver Spider Web Silver spider webwearing just a few round beadsof yesterday’s rain Limber Branch A single chestnutinside a green mace still clingsto its limber branch Black Paws White dog has black pawsafter her romp down riverthrough rich bottom mud So Very Many I am overwhelmed –so very many books, words what is there to say? This Season My old friends are oldand so am I – subtletiesof dusk in autumn Whatever I whisper secretsto myself and then forgetwhatever I’ve heard Staying I am staying hometo let unspoiled places be,to let myself be My Work Inside all day, I traveled other minds and hearts,their odd green homelands Rain Has Made Rain has made this dayinto a dim drumming hum –cat sleeps peacefully Fill Me Up The dead fill me upwith quiet conversationswithout any lips Windy Rainy Windy rainy daya blizzard of yellow leaves hides white dog from me Heron Heron among ducks –it...
Jul 4, 2009 | Haiku, Poetry |
Orange Pendulum That orange pendulumis just one leaf suspendedfrom a spider’s thread 17 Year Cicadas Do the cicadasunderground know that they’ll surgeawake this next spring? Abundance Acorns drum the roof,announcing the abundanceof which squirrels dream Just The Fourth Monarch Just the fourth monarch,resting orange, black on milkweed,I saw this morning Self Same Hue Cherry tomatoand high far rare reddish Marsshare the self same hue Surf The wind finds in oaksa sound like surf, wild wavingof paper-thin green So You’re Gone So you’re gone, mother,whom I never quite knew, sinceyou weren’t quite you First Shock The first shock has passed,so that I can begin to grievewith the falling leaves Rolling In Offal Rolling in offal,the happy dog knows nothingof this week’s events Anxious It made you anxiousto get near me, when I wassmall and free and me Tod You had lost the willto live long ago, but youstill loved being towed Absence, Absence I can’t find you nowin my mind – absence, absence –that’s you in my mind Your Mother’s Voice Near the end you hadyour mother’s voice and went slackas she to be free October Dogwood A pool of scarlet,near blood red, is a dogwood’simage in fall lake. Rare Distinction One in ten millionwere the odds you’d die of this –a rare distinction Branch Of Red Leaves A branch of red leavesis painted on the full moonand stirred by the wind Lake’s Lead Skin you, dying, sloughedreturns as patches of mist,white on the lake’s lead Dying Inexpressibleas the full moon setting now is dying, the end Tiger Stripes Unafraid of frost,a tiger striped bee hoversover yellow leaf Dead Crow...
Jul 2, 2009 | Haiku, Poetry |
Blue Nettle Berries Blue nettle berriesin the tangle by the streamthis first day of fall Warming This year mosquitoesare everywhere – soon we’ll havemalaria back Time Passes “Time passes,” I wrote,“when I am gone from myself”what can I have meant? Huge Orange Seeds Huge orange seeds liliesof the valley make bob likeballs on a fool’s cap Tentative Decades of writing,always tentative, alwaysbeginning over Secret Root I’ve been all my lifea secret root in the earthstarving for the light Hibbing Hibbing, mine tailingsin Lake Superior, andthen the Dylan fish So Dusky Blue Great blue heron liftsso dusky blue that it seemsevening’s taking flight Honking In Fog Geese honking in fogwake me from my reverie,say life’s urgent, now Bulk As baleen whales strainplankton, I swim through detailsbecoming immense No Way Out There is no way outof whatever I’m in, butthrough and then I’m through Dark Bones Snow-blossomed in spring,dogwood turns blood red in fall,then bares its dark bones Earth’s Library The earth’s libraryis full of the bones of thoseI’ve loved, great books’ spines Leaf Strewn Lawn Across leaf strewn lawnsquirrels play tag and white dogquivers to join in Gleaming Through sixty autumnsI reach back to grab buckeyesgleaming in sunshine Ordinary The ordinary,that is where mystery lives,in these sodden leaves Tongue Without The whisper of oakburning in the fireplace, tonguewithout any words Navel A thimble of flesh,navel goes with me, remindsme what thread bore me Artillery Report of acornson slate roofs – artillery of oaks in action Drum Voice A drum has a voice,hollowness speaking, even as I do, same air Cloud Dulled Autumn leaves rustlein rainy wind – the moon’s night’sCyclops...
Apr 26, 2009 | Haiku, Poetry |
With Myanmar, September 7 Miniature monk,a tiny praying mantisamid basil’s green Quite Who I never forgetwho I am, since I’ve neverknown who I might be So Stealthy Beautiful dry dayafter beautiful dry day –so stealthy this drought A.K., September 24, 2007 We keep you in mindas if searching for the plansto build you again Up Early, Worried Up early, worried,I feel the dread in the fleshthat is life itself Gunshots Acorns are fallingwith the report of gunshotson slate roof and deck Drink Autumn woodland fogpasses through the spiders’ webs,leaves fresh drink behind Eruption V’s of geese erupt from dense banks of autumn fogscream upwards and off Time Reduces Time reduces meto something like an essencebut still not quite me Slipping Through I keep slipping throughthe noose of my own knowingso I stay alive The Sky’s Flag In dry Octoberthe blue jay flies the sky’s flag,darts through falling leaves Windows Windows in the woodsstart to open as leaves fall –I see sky patches To Write In order to write,I step back from what I seeto find it again New Surface The act of writingturns me inside out – how strangethis new surface is Tired I’m tired of me,something sweet in this fatigue,with a hint of rot None? I’m shell within shell –which one is the innermost –or might there be none? Poised October’s still greenbut summer’s fever has calmed –the paintbrush is poised Autumn While I still can seeI record the mysteriesI can’t comprehend Dog And Doubts Soft October nightI take my dog and my doubtsfor a long slow walk Dawn Mist Dawn mist hugs the ground,fills the hollows of...
Apr 26, 2009 | Haiku, Poetry |
Winked Morning wildernessborders on the land of dreams –a star winked at me Fact/Fiction A matter of factis a matter of fiction –so spring is my dream Afloat Clock chimes the hour –I don’t count, knowing onlythat now stays afloat Bothered Beaver The bothered beaverstrikes the lake’s bass drum and divesto white dog’s surprise Pink Haze Weeping cherry’s bloommakes a pink haze on blue sky –this grief’s delicate Exquisite The exquisite scentof a blossom I don’t know –would a name spoil it? Lone Goose Lone goose, white bellied,under white clouds, streaking west,squawking all the way 5 Hawks 5 hawks circling lightat Cross Campus and Osler –what prey do they see? Green Eyes One green eye in sunand one green eye in shadow –question mark cat sleeps Flashed A blue jay flashed throughthe weeping cherry’s pink veil –that was yesterday SF, April, 2008 More Like Now I look more likemy father than like myself –who was he am I? Lovely Ugly Lovely ugly croakof a heron taking flight –is mine different? SF, 9 April, 2008 Cranes wait by the bay –the Olympic torch is lost –Everest stands still A Streetcar A streetcar renamed lack of desire, how aging brings want of wanting Yellow Rimmed Eye Small black bird, yellowrimmed eye, tends a puddle wherecherry blossoms float Mix Fatigue and sorrowmix with sixty year olds’ joys –I’m past purity Heat Wave, Point Reyes, April 12, 2008 Resplendent in warmth,blue ocean, barely rolling –ease, immensity Scattered Wild iris scatteredthroughout seaside cow pastures –specks of majesty Stain Bird against blue, hawkkeeps its shadow on a string,stains green grass with ink Tomales Bay Now...
Apr 24, 2009 | Haiku, Poetry |
Old Ohio Barn Old barn – blue sky slatsmixed in among the gray. as sky mixes with mine Yola, April 5, 2007 Naked as a childI go to April graveyard –snow falls in Cleveland Over It I’m over it &what I’m over is myself,tiny as zerO Lake Erie Lake Erie in springa slate gray on which I wrotemy first history In Puzzlement Places of my youthstand in puzzlement, wonderjust who I might be Few Simple A few simple things,but what are they: can I countthem on my fingers? My Puzzlement When I meet myselfmy puzzlement increasesbut is sweetened, too Piece Of Dead Fox In her mouth white dogholds a large piece of dead fox,smiling as she does Black Type The coots are black typescattered on the windy lake,bobbing with the waves Just Before The beaver left offjust before the tree toppled –what distracted her? Joy’s Mist The press of blind daysthat don’t know where they’re going,soft kiss of joy’s mist Slippery Now I’ve no occasionexcept for slippery nowthat I just can’t grab Groaning White dog is groaningwith desire, hope, pleasureall mixed together Snow There’s snow on my cheek,but I can not ski down it,since I’m the mountain Cherry Dance Weeping cherry’s dancein the breeze is more complexthan any cloth skirt’s Cleveland, April 2007 I miss my parentsin how I forget myselfand see only cloud Company Of Stones I’m bereaved when Ileave the cemetery and company of stones Flowers, Too Words are flowers, tooI can arrange them onlyas they bloom in me Wafers Wafers of blue skysandwiched in between cloud sheepthat have no shepherd Strange Spring Plum petals and snowmix...
