Why do I keep you
I say to the dress
that doesn’t fit
that never has
and hold it up
to admire its sheen
then hang it up
in the closet again.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
After Ruthlessly Cleaning the Closet
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged dress, holding on, poem, poetry on September 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Listen and Repeat
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged beer, learning a language, poem, poetry, Spanish on September 21, 2017| 4 Comments »
Say, “I want to drink a beer,”
says the man in the speaker.
It is seven thirty in the morning,
and I have been practicing,
for twenty minutes, how to say
Jo quiero beber una cerveza,
only sometimes the man tells me
to ask for a cold beer, una cerveza fria.
And I do. I ask for un sandwich frio,
too, and repeatedly query, Quanto questa,
how much will it cost, or else I insist,
Hablo un poco de Español, or
No tengo mucho dinero,
I don’t have much money,
but mostly, the man
with the low, clear voice prompts me
to ask for beer. Cold beer. And though
the sun has just barely risen
over the mountain, and though
I only rarely drink beer,
and though I am sipping on a latte,
driving my children to school,
I find myself craving a cold,
cold beer, preferably with a lime,
preferably served on a beach
with a breeze, the sun a giant
glittering peso, the bottle slick
with its own cold sweat,
and some man I don’t see insists
in a low, clear voice, voy a pagar,
jo voy a pagar, I’m going to pay,
and in my perfect Pimsleur accent,
I say to him, gracias, señor, muchas gracias,
and sip my cold beer, waiting
for the next lesson.
Go Ahead and Test It
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged gray day, light, poem, poetry on September 20, 2017| 2 Comments »
next time it is overcast, gray
a little soggy and damp,
go for a walk, notice
how little light it takes
for the world to shine
Dear Ralph,
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged patience, poem, poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson, ripening, waiting on September 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Wait until the necessary and everlasting overpowers you, until day and night avail themselves of your lips.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Essays and Lectures”
I believe in ripeness, the wisdom
of waiting. Here on my counter,
the melon sweetens and softens.
The peppers slowly turn from green
to red. The tomatoes become less
like stones and more like kisses.
Terrible to taste an early grape,
the way its sharp juice rucks
the soft lips. Terrible to eat
the berry before it’s earned
its blush. And still, the misery
of waiting—how eagerness
rises up in us, a surge of please,
a tide of want, a rush of now.
Yes, to the wait, the awful wait,
how this trial of patience
brings us closer to ourselves,
how it makes the future inevitable
ever that much sweeter.
One Insight
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged poem, poetry, smile on September 18, 2017| Leave a Comment »
When Revelation Comes Disguised as Life
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged darkness, friendship, poem, poetry, problem on September 18, 2017| Leave a Comment »
for Barbara Ford
We sit on the couch in the low lamplight
and talk for hours about the heart,
its longing to know and be known.
I watch your hands as you speak, how
your long fingers dance. And sometimes,
my eyes catch on a moth amusing itself
at the edge of the room, content in shadow.
We are both well aware that pain
can also be a blessing, that just because
something is not going right doesn’t mean
it is wrong. There are problems
we will never solve, but tonight, it is not
about the solving of things, it’s about the feeling
of them, the willingness to lean over the edge
of the well-lit world, the thrill of fluttering
in the darkness together.
Deciding to Sometimes Practice Being Snapdragon
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged beauty, poem, poetry, snapdragon, usefulness on September 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »
All morning, I make myself useful—
mow the lawn and vacuum
the carpet and scrub the potatoes
and slice the melon and straighten
the shelves and look out the window
and see the snapdragons I planted
last spring not because they were useful,
but because they are so beautiful.
