Thursday, July 26, 2012



For Isabel


racing a low flying sparrow

it doesn’t happen often
only when the wind is right
and then dissent must soften
buffet tired wings forgotten
forget there ever was a night


Saturday, July 21, 2012





The Voice

how does it happen
that a person grows old
against their will and
better judgment
how does it happen
that mirrors wreak havoc
and spines bend like classics
reread again and again
a page turned is one step
closer to death or
a chapter unearthed
is a photograph
that misses the joke
when you focus on nothing
expect a reminder
a voice may return
passion dug under
like a sower who turns
the earth not for profit
who strikes a pose
when the wind hits the surface
remember my voice
it says and I do
and tonight it returned
long overdue.

Friday, July 13, 2012




Soup Kitchen


I served her a meal and my arms grew long
and scraped the ground like a wanderer’s song
she quietly ate what I put before her
my empty arms came to rest
on a well trodden floor
I know you she said
we swam in a school
I fished a response from memory's pool
I am you
you are me
those were days that we knew
full of all the pretension
the fearless dimension of youth
I cannot be hungry though I might have been
I cannot be blind once I have seen
how she bears it so well
how can I tell
alone as I am in the midst of a crowd
I create my path
I reject my own vows
I will learn from her truth

I served her a meal and my heart did swell
not from pride but relief
and I hid that well

fortune has hidden agendas it's true
and there but for stories
of personal worth
goes the story of all of us
from death to birth
for who knows when life starts
who knows but the earth
when our arms reach down deeply
and bring up the song
and we’ll sing it and sometimes
get it better than wrong

Thursday, July 5, 2012






















this

this, this, this,
loneliness
a holiness
so clever
and so keen
it makes a bell
fall silent
a tender cat
get mean

this, this, this
loneliness
a hollowness
I never
care to treat
it brings a gift
so dangerous
a junkyard dog
retreats

this, this, this
loneliness
a steadiness
betrays that
need to grieve
the space is filled
a languor blessed
a blind deceit
will leave

this moment
comes
embrace
move on

5 July 2012