Posted in POEMS on February 28, 2007 | 2 Comments »
SOMEWHERE IN THE REMOTE ARCTIC
Somewhere in the remote arctic there’s a
vast sea of oval glaciers each set as if
in ivory and extending across the
expanse as if providing steppingstones for God
over black water
from the Inconceivable to the Incontrovertible
as He in an inscrutable mechanism proceeds on
His endless rounds through the
known and unknown universe indefatigably
assisting and peeling back [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 25, 2007 | No Comments »
POEM BEFORE IT IS WRITTEN
Before this poem comes into being or rather
in real time just as it’s coming into being
it already exists though in no perceptible form
nor even knowable to us though many such
poems might already exist that are far more
epic or supple or full of perfect lines of
cypress trees leading to the fountain [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 23, 2007 | No Comments »
HE WANTED TO GO ON A LONG JOURNEY
He wanted to go on a long journey
so he closed his eyes and started
counting his breaths until he could see
the snowclad onion roofs of Moscow
the glistening fields of Fayyoum Egypt
the stifling downtown city congestion of Hong Kong
and he was happy swatting flies from his food
and stepping on [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 22, 2007 | 2 Comments »
AESTHETIC
Poetry is what can’t be said
any other way
Verse is thoughts searching for poetry
8/23/2004 (from Cooked Oranges – image of creature by Salihah Moore, Lion of the Sea)
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Posted in POEMS on February 19, 2007 | 1 Comment »
BUT IT IS WE
A ship is laden with pearls each one
previously strung and it’s going to dock
in your harbor and they’re yours
what will you do?
A face is waiting to be kissed that belongs to
someone you’ve not yet met who knows you from
head to toe who will lead you down the
mountain to safety
will you follow?
The sky [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 17, 2007 | No Comments »
A MAN ON THE ROAD TO GOD
I met a man on the road to God with the intense face of an owl –
I felt the closeness of diamond-white feathers in the perfect space of an owl
Eyes of divine penetration burn all the way into our souls –
And ignite us in a blaze of love – [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 15, 2007 | 4 Comments »
INFINITE CLARITY
Five nights have gone by and not one owl of
poetry has hooted to me out of his tree
Three moths fly in the room from flitter to flitter
their universe perfect within themselves
looking out through tiny cockpit eyes
to navigate from one light to another
Twenty-foot crocodiles slither across delta mud
sometimes leaving perfect imprints of their crocodilic [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 12, 2007 | 1 Comment »
OPALESCENT SOUL
As humans we have so many things to look after – our nails – our hair – our hearts – our transcendent souls –
We file our nails – we cut our hair – we fall in love or find the true object of the love of our resplendent souls –
A camel stands in silhouette [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 10, 2007 | No Comments »
A VISIT WITH MR. BLAKE
William Blake across from me sits here
insisting on whatever it is he insists on and a
great red cape opens up to show an illuminated city he says
is Jerusalem
Not quite the one over there in Palestine
but translucent walls and gates of light as only
Blake can envision
Even pinkish and silvery angels elongatedly
bending [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 9, 2007 | 2 Comments »
GOD’S SUNLIGHT
Beauty has a way of sinking into
everything we do like a time-lapse
photograph of dark flowers blossoming out of
everything
White horses on a hillside in the rain
couldn’t be more beautiful
and the silvery rain itself whose lateral beads
the wind jangles
Our oceans are as wide as the five oceans themselves
as they lick the continents’ edges over and
over [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 4, 2007 | No Comments »
LOVE’S PEBBLES THROWN
One day Love came to town to see if he’d
missed anyone
There was a river he swam to refresh himself
New duck hatchlings in a nest under a grassy bank
needed their natural focus reinforced to the motherly
gratitude of their dam
On the way into town he whistled a new tune
and a farmer boy swooned
and three [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 3, 2007 | No Comments »
ALL OF IT
It can’t be coaxed
the wind
to go thinly into a tiny chamber
except by Allah
Light
unless it is pushed ahead
by invisible forces
swifter than anything
remains in the dark
The captain
atilt on the high seas
unless he turn by Allah’s bright stars
can’t steer to safety
By Allah alone
these things and centipedes
fluttering along a branch
in a hurry or dreamy nights
on a bridge [...]
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Posted in POEMS on February 1, 2007 | 2 Comments »
THE SAINT CALLS TO US
The saint calls to us one by one
under a corridor of stars
to savor in the eyes and heart the night’s
sweet dissolution
the earth’s lamplit opening from a deep chamber
to an angelic choir in the same rift
and through the same stones
Calls us out through our wrist-cuffs and
shirt openings button by button
to take that [...]
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