LUCY IN THE EARTH WITH DIAMONDS
There were times with you
when the very marrow
of my bones sang too
Dug up
three million years from now
they will have instruments
to listen to the music
Monthly Archives: October 2010
BURYING THE POET
BURYING THE POET
The great poet died so suddenly
her student thought that she
would surely die as well
At the funeral she fell quickly
and deeply in love
with the poet’s tall
young son
Took him back to the hotel
her wound open, his
mother’s life
entering
ANOTHER DEAD DEBBIE POEM
ANOTHER DEAD DEBBIE POEM
I’m remembering
that scar you had
full across your throat
The kind of scar one gets
from bad thyroid surgery
or a husband with a knife
Most intimate of orifices
no-one was allowed to touch
You let me touch
Thinking it was something about me
I failed to fathom the depth of the gift
BOOT CAMP
BOOT CAMP
They cut the new soldiers hair
No-one wants a bunch of
Samsons in boot camp
Later it may grow back
It will not be theirs
MEXICAN DRUG WARS
MEXICAN DRUG WARS
There are a lot of bones
in the great wall of China
Some folks think
it’s a good idea to build
one in Texas
In all the border towns
they are stockpiling materials
A MARY OLIVER QUESTION
A MARY OLIVER QUESTION
You don’t want to hear the story
of my life, and anyway
I don’t want to tell it.
Mary Oliver – DOGFISH
Mary Oliver writes poems that are not about her
In the poems there are
black bears and wild geese
and dogfish and starfish and sharks
and even a few clams
There are herons and owls
red-tailed hawks, black snakes
and fawns and does and dogs
The black bears and wild geese
the alligators and the sunflowers
and even the cracked walls say
“These poems are not about us either”
I have to ask. Are they about you?
A RIFF ON INVICTUS
A RIFF ON INVICTUS
A great poem
and a wonderful title
they may use it
in a Mandela movie someday
My reverence however
does not prevent further musings
like what it would be like as haiku
Black as night god
bludgeonings of chance
bloody but unbowed
Or note in the human condition
the deepest silent plea
to those we love
That no matter
the many thousand ways
we have failed to pay the rent
they will continue
to invict and not evict us
TABBY LA ROSA
TABBY LA ROSA
Horses are cats
they just want to be
petted and loved
Although
when you neglect to do so
they are much more likely
to send you flying
than piss on your best Persian rug
That sort of thing is reserved for cats
and cats are not horses
and deeply resent
being ridden
as every toddling two year old
in history (unable to read history)
will have to have etched
on the blank slates of their skin
DREAMS
DREAMS
Digging out once again
from dreaming I’m
dreaming I’m
dreaming
where I tread pasts
and foretell futures
embrace taboo embraces
am chased and chase
in many a circled chase
Buildings never built
I construct and walk among
and chat with father
mother and Carl Jung
New music I compose
on a Strad I heard
in concert only once
understand and speak
Spanish, French and Greek
Write direct and act the parts
in full length movies
almost every night
If you think that
in the morning I’d be tired
you’d be right
SERVICE
SERVICE
Every small town funeral
Church ladies serving tea
and sandwiches and cake
Love
through
shaking hands
spreads in quivering
waves
out across the jellied salad