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Archive for January, 2016

Two Tendernesses

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on January 31, 2016| 2 Comments »

 

 

 

while I shovel

and fold clothes and wash

bowls and chop

yellow peppers, all day with both hands

I cradle your heart

 

*

 

while I am walking

you are all around me,

you go on as far as I can see—

I have no stars to offer you,

you hold me, anyway

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Just Playing Around, this time with the link

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 31, 2016| 3 Comments »

Hi friends,

Yesterday my good friend Kyra Kopestonsky came over to play cello … she has a grant application due so we were making videos of collaborative pieces we’ve performed together before. What a great way to spend a morning hour, reciting poems and making music. It’s a little echo-y, but here’s a playful version of “Post Script”. I love the way the cello underlines all the fragility–proof somehow that through resonance we can support each other in our most vulnerable places. Good luck, Kyra, getting that residency!

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Inner Eden

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 31, 2016| 6 Comments »

 

 

 

And if I found in me

a spot of land where

anything could grow—

some miraculous soil

that knows only yes—

then what would

I dare sow?

In such tender

territory, even breath

might take root.

A whisper becomes

a seed becomes

an unknowable

flowering. A song,

of course, I’d

plant a love song.

But imagine if,

as I knelt, lips to earth,

a loneliness spilled

from my pockets,

strewing its millions

of tired spores

throughout the plot.

And what if an arrow

from an old wound

chose then to dislodge?

Is it in fear or in joy

I dance at the edge

of inevitable fertility, longing

for the impossible—

to plant only beauty,

its fruits reseeding

all around us growing

only more beauty,

more beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One Self Portrait

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 30, 2016| 1 Comment »

 

 

 

the house on fire

and me still trying

to get all the beds made

 

*

 

One Grace

 

what is the next step—

letting myself not know

until I am stepping

 

 

 

 

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There is a Moment When

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on January 28, 2016| 3 Comments »

 

 

 

the dark is    less dark

and the shapes    of the world

reveal again their    singular shapes—

I know they don’t really    lose their lines in the dark,

but I like to imagine    all those newly

illumined    silhouettes

have spent the night    blurred, puddled

into one    immense darkness,

forgetting    for a while

that they have    any lines

worth    preserving.

It is enough    to make a woman

wish that    the light

would never    come

if that is    what it takes

to make us    all remember

how arbitrary    they are,

these boundaries    we like

to call    ourselves.

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Five Currents

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 28, 2016| 6 Comments »

 

 

 

choked with ice

the river impedes itself—

I catch myself

thinking

it is beautiful

 

*

 

why dream

of unrestricted days

says the part of me

that stands

in my way

 

 

*

 

love, let us

be naked together—

how did we ever

get fooled that we

are not enough?

 

*

 

dark current

its edges invisible—

just because

we can’t see the path

doesn’t mean it isn’t there

 

*

 

a lifetime,

not long enough

to watch the river move across itself

and still this moment

holds everything

 

 

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Cruciferous

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 26, 2016| 3 Comments »

 

 

 

Tonight I have fallen in love with cauliflower,

the way that it gives itself so completely

to the soup, the way it informs the curry

with nutty sweetness, with bitterness.

I love the way it turns to cream, how it

loses all sense of its former shape

and is still so wholly present.

 

I know it is foolish, perhaps, to toss around

a word so important as love, to spend it

on a vegetable. No, I tell myself,

it is worse not to fall in love with cauliflower,

worse to pretend that it isn’t a gift,

an invitation to praise. Such simple worship,

a bowl, a spoon, a willing tongue.

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Obituary poem published on Rattle

Posted in Uncategorized on January 26, 2016| 2 Comments »

What do you wish they might say about you when you die? I was horrified by the headline for football player Lou Michaels in the New York Times … that prompted this poem, published today on Rattle.com, After My Friend Phyllis Shows Me the New York Times Obituary Headline: “Lou Michaels, All-Purpose Player, Dies at 80, Missed Kicks in ’69 Super Bowl”

As far as process goes, I was curious how the poem began as a rant, but by the end, I felt mostly humbled. Oh poetry, how I love what it does to us. I want to mention that the quote in the poem is from Wayne Muller, and if you want to see more of his incredible work, I took the quote from his book “A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough” (Harmony, 2010).

 

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After

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 25, 2016| 1 Comment »

 

 

 

cut off my tongue, then,

so I can’t say what I know,

and turn me into a nightingale

 

there are other ways to sing—

feel the sun, how it always tells the truth

 

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One Remedy

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on January 24, 2016| 1 Comment »

One Remedy

 

 

hungover on love—

this morning stroking the hair

of the dog that bit me

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