Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for February, 2018

The Legacy of Gustav Klimt and His Enduring Kiss

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 28, 2018| 2 Comments »

After over a hundred years,

the blue flowers in her hair

are still as blue and the ivy

in his hair is still as green

and her face is just as soft

and serene as when she received

the kiss, the kiss that made

the whole world fall in love

with Gustav Klimt. And who

wouldn’t want to be caught

forever and ever in a golden

embrace, infinitely tender,

eternally erotic, the way

no kiss truly is? But here

they are, defying the fall,

these lovers, hanging unframed

on the wall of the Belvedere,

still passionate, lust-drowsy,

their love spilling into the halls

as the whole world around

them dissolves into shimmer,

into shine.

http://www.cnn.com/style/article/gustav-klimt-100-years/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlarge

Read Full Post »

One for My Dad

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 27, 2018| 8 Comments »

 

 

 

so tender his tears

that thirty years later

I find them in my own eyes

Read Full Post »

While Trying to Decide What Comes Next

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 26, 2018| 2 Comments »

 

 

 

There is clarity in the three-hole punch,

the way it is made to receive the paper,

always the same every time.

 

How it punches the holes always

equidistant from each other. It never worries

it’s not doing its job good enough. Never

 

worries it isn’t worthy of the pages it meets.

There is clarity in the way it flexes beneath

the hand, how it does the one thing it was made

 

to do. And you, with your hand on the black

length of it, you with your thousands of choices

inside every moment, what is it that needs

 

your precision? Maybe you’re making it

too hard. Maybe it’s your turn to do

the one thing you were made to do.

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on February 25, 2018| 2 Comments »

The wind has its way

with you. Sun, too.

Raveling. Fading. And

still you fly, sincere,

half mast.

 

Ode to the American Flag

Read Full Post »

One Afternoon Hike

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 24, 2018| 1 Comment »

 

—for Rachel

 

 

between the cactus,

we walk, our conversation

daring to step wherever it wants

Read Full Post »

When I Thought I Wanted Things to be Different

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 23, 2018| 4 Comments »

 

 

 

Sometimes, she said, being uncomfortable

is what we need to do.

 

And I think of the scald of hot water,

how it cleans the stain.

 

How being covered in abrasive fuzz

is the only way to harvest the peach.

 

How the seed is carried by the burr.

It is human to seek pleasure, shun pain.

 

But think of the tree, how it lets

the gale rip away what is dead.

 

And the grape, how it bubbles

and foams before it becomes wine.

 

And the cactus, how it needs the drought

as much as it needs the rain.

Read Full Post »

Should We Tell Her?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 22, 2018| 2 Comments »

 

 

 

Somewhere in my heart

there is a tiny woman

with a crimson scarf

and hair pulled back

who is balancing

on a tightrope—

she has not yet learned

that it is okay

for her to fall,

that the net

will always catch her,

so she keeps doing

the same boring walk

back and forth

thinking how brave

and how proficient

she is at staying

on the rope,

never learning

she could also

jump and swing

and leap and twirl and fall

and get back up.

 

Read Full Post »

After Scouring the Mountaintop

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 21, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

Looking for god under the bed—

finding dust bunnies.

Sacred dust bunnies.

Of course, I think,

but to be honest, friend,

I don’t really see

the divine

in these drifts of abandoned hair

and fuzz and grit,

no matter how much I’d like to.

Now I know how I get in my own way.

For here on, I’ll need to question

my eyes more often.

Lower my standards? Perhaps

feel myself being held

up to the light

to see what shines.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Easier with a Friend

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 19, 2018| 4 Comments »

 

for Corinne, skate skier extraordinaire

 

 

The meadow was a violent scourge of white,

and still we chose to leave our cars and ski.

The wind and blowing snow obscured our sight,

 

lashed through our hats and stole our breath, but we

leaned into it and laughed, as if the storm

were nothing more than an excuse to be

 

more brave, more willing to eschew what’s warm

so we might face our fear, find joy in risk—

and sure enough, I felt myself transform

 

from nervousness to animated bliss—

and we for hours skied amidst the gusts

and for that time, knew nothing more than this:

 

to meet the crazy storm. When scared, to thrust

ourselves into the howling world. And trust.

Read Full Post »

Thinking Those Three Hoodlums Could Use a Good Dose of Nevermore

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

Those boys who jumped you at the dance—

I want the chance

to find them now

and ask them how

they feel about themselves as men.

But then again,

perhaps it would

feel twice as good

to sit them in a row and read

them poems, see

them squirm to Poe—

then let them go.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »