It is the child of cold and warmth.
It is right it should show up
both cloudy and clear,
this union of opposites,
shaped like a spear, piercing
the silence with dripping, dripping.
It forms itself
the same way it disappears.
Posts Tagged ‘thoughts’
Like an Icicle, A Thought
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged icicle, poem, poetry, thinking, thoughts, winter on March 17, 2019| Leave a Comment »
One Growing Clarity
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged clarity, poem, poetry, snow, thoughts, winter on February 25, 2019| Leave a Comment »
How to Unshovel the Snow: An Evening Conundrum
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged hope, poem, poetry, shoveling, snow, thoughts on December 27, 2018| 6 Comments »
It’s not so much that you want the snow
back in the drive, it’s just that your back
felt so much better before the shoveling,
and so, using your sideways logic, you think
to yourself that if the snow were unshoveled
your back might unhurt. And while
you’re at it, you think you might unthink
those thoughts you thought the night before
shoveling the drive. Though they didn’t
amount to any action, now that you’ve
thought them they’ve become a frame
that’s changed everything. So you start
with the snow, because revising that seems easier
than anything else, but to shovel it back
in the drive would seem to exacerbate
the problem with the back, so
you consider ways the snow might unfall,
all of them fanciful. At least for a while,
it amuses you, the idea of ten million
million snowflakes rising, but then
the reality of drought returns and you
feel guilty for unwishing the snow. No,
better to put your hope in perseverance,
better to put your hope in healing.
It happens. And you walk up the drive,
so snowless and clear you can safely look up
at the sky and see all those stars. The snow
gathers whatever light there is. It can’t
unshine. You thrill a bit in the chill. Some
of the shine reaches into you. Some of it stays.
One Good Turn
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged beets, poem, poetry, thoughts, transformation on September 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Slow roasted,
the beets
become tender,
sweet,
how I long
to do the same
to these hard,
red thoughts.
One Track
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged poem, poetry, thoughts on June 23, 2018| Leave a Comment »
One Down by the River
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged poem, poetry, river, stone, thoughts, transformation on March 25, 2018| Leave a Comment »
the rocks move
more than we think they do—
after the ice floes,
the mudslides, high water in spring
take note, you stone-like thoughts
Preparation
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged garden, poem, poetry, thoughts, weed on June 20, 2016| 1 Comment »
Pulling tall grass
from amidst the peonies
it’s hard not to admire
the tenaciousness
of grass, admire it
as I rip it out, every
last blade.
What Doesn’t Work
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged poem, poetry, thoughts, xerxes I on April 24, 2016| 1 Comment »
And so when his bridge was destroyed by the sea,
Xerxes I had the sea whipped. Three hundred lashes.
He branded the water with red-hot irons
and ordered his soldiers to shout at the strait.
I have tried to lash these errant thoughts,
have wanted to whip them to keep them in line.
I have wanted to make my mind eat soap,
have tried to force it to sit in the corner.
But the sea cared nothing about the lashes,
just as the mind is nonplussed by the soap.
The sea laps its tongues against my frustration.
Salt gets into my eyes, my beliefs, my throat.
How I Stay Tethered
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged poem, poetry, thoughts, worry on September 15, 2015| 2 Comments »
I return to the story about the monk
who put everything he owned into a boat
and rowed it into the middle of the lake
and then sank it. He did not give the stuff away,
not wanting to burden anyone else
with things. I would like to take
a red canoe to the center of a lake
and sink it with these thoughts—
why should anyone else need to worry
the ways I have worried on behalf
of the world? My only fear is that
they would displace so much water
the lake would flood and who knows
how many might be hurt then. No, I think,
better to take them for a walk.
Oh those thoughts, like unruly puppies,
biting at my ankles and running off—
and isn’t it like me to call them back
or run after them, afraid they’ll get lost.
Taking Lessons from Hermes
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Hermes, poem, poetry, thoughts, trickster on December 17, 2014| 1 Comment »
These wicked thoughts—
sometimes I try
to track them back
to their evil origins.
Perhaps they have learned
to put their sandals on backward
because they appear
to have started
with me.
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