subtext

My Poetry and Commentary on Life

Designed with WordPress

if everything is art, then nothing is art

by

audacity, hermenutics, lit theory, literature, poetics, poetry, ways of knowing, writing

“nothing comes from nothing”

William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 1.1

an arrogant yet thoughtless

aesthetic with only elan

and a memory for names

to bastion his opinions

against irrelevance’s

mocking laughter

(December 7, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
after waking

by

dream, existential angst, life, poetry, traces

the dream drapes the air in discomfort

like an unwanted houseguest

who will not leave

long after the conversation has stalled

and everyone is left

staring at the floor

as if praying for absolution

(December 7, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
controlled breathing

by

control, conversation, fear, poetry, silence, writing

I write to

contain if even

for a moment

the slow breath

as the word

beneath the last

of the conversation

slips into this

world and shifts

slightly but

significantly

everything I see

to such a degree

that my bumbling

attempts at love

fall into mockery

and self-flagellation

and frighten you

away like a rabbit

into the brush

(December 7, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
Fuel

by

dissatisfaction, i ching, life, poetry, traces

November 28, 1995

The superfluous baroques

the surface. Motion casts off detritus.

Sated into a standstill, I feel

uncomfortable when content;

at ease in crisis.

The wood burns the fire brighter.

(from “My Book of Changes, 1994-1995)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
Bloody Tears

by

dissatisfaction, fear, i ching, life, metaphor, poetry

November 30, 1995

Through the storm’s tumult,

thunder’s crash,

lightning’s flash – – – I see

a darker vision: a wagon,

myself, the team, smashed

on the crags below this path.

(from “My Book of Changes, 1994-1995)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
Where are You Going?

by

acceptance, hope, hubris, identity formation, life, poetry

I’m not sure I trust people who know

who they will be years from now

as if one could gather up the possible

and lay it out like coins on a table

I trust I will arrive without knowing

I have since passed where I think I am

(December 5, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
fraudulent

by

borders, interrelationships, poetry, response

I stand before you

holding a mirror

in such a manner

that when you look

to me you see

yourself instead

then I become

what you want

the most not always

me but a ghost

in the guise

of your desire

a chameleon clings

to the color of a wall

(December 4, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
each night the same

by

anger, existential angst, hope, poetry

tired anger staggers about the house

like a drunk lashing out in frustration

I hide within the corners of language

and whisper words of solace to the dark

(December 3, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
Dread the Day

by

dissatisfaction, existential angst, fear, life, poetry

dread is more patient than fear

fear leaps from the dark while dread

dread takes his time as if strolling

through the park bringing dusk with him

lengthening shadows beneath the trees

and the next curve along the path

dread crawls like a worm into your chest

nestling in just below the rib cage

before sending tentacles out like threads

stitching all the tiny bits of worry

into a net trapping you with your

own sense of impotent immobility

(December 2, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
(borders)

by

communication, fragments, liminal, poetry

Down . . .

The . . .

Side . . .

Victorians . . .

Spoke . . .

Words . . .

Hidden . . .

Along . . .

Edges: . . .

Obscured . . .

Frontiers. . .

(from “primogenitive folly, August 2001-April 2003)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
Little Birds

by

fate, fear, life, poetry

Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!

–William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 3.3

away quick away like starlings

leaping into air and twisting

back upon each other hand to

arm to face to laughter fearing

whatever is after will finally capture

and all the delightful falderal of life

will be stripped bare bones exposed

to air until every step we trip upon

will clatter like crows laughing from

frozen branches tangled with hair

(December 1, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
these hands

by

love, poetry, relationships

these hands hold the pen above the page

these hands toss crows into the air

and finger the harlequin’s guitar

these hands knead this morning’s bread

these hands push the knife through to bone

and run down the length of your spine

these hands block the blinding sun

these hands deflect the abuser’s blows

and hold your hands to my heart

these hands pull flowers from the ground

these hands slide along your bare skin

and cover my shattered face as I weep

these hands reach out to catch the rain

and pull you closer through the night

(November 30, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
(always already there)

by

fragments, language, liminal, meaning, metaphor, poetry, silence, traces

. . . ge(nom)e . . .

(from “primogenitive folly.” August 2001-April 2003)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
36. Veiled Light

by

early work, i ching, poetry, writing

November 11, 1995

I work with my students,

alone, with no one to talk

and share. I often desire

to work through the night.

Writing the dark, watching

the movement of stars.

(from “My Book of Changes,” 1994-1995)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…
Draining

by

liminal, poetry

the vacuum pops

a gasp

gulps space

as if saved from the sea

eyes start in panic

the outside expands

into the nothing

the absence pulls

and pulls us all

like blood collapses

toward the heart

or the galaxy’s

farthest extreme

breathes back into vortex

(November 27, 2013)

Share this:
Facebook
Tumblr
X
Bluesky
Threads
Like Loading…