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My Poetry and Commentary on Life

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(refraction)

by

fragments, poetry, traces, ways of knowing

I am cognizant

beneath what clothes i wear

my skin still gleams pale

to my eye

it is the awareness

the inability to lie comfortably

in the bed i’ve made

that troubles my dreams

throughout the day

the mirror reflects the mirror

refracting my image

defraying the carefully tangled threads

exposing the base nothing

that is always there

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

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(walled in)

by

fragments, interpretation, language, liminal, meaning, poetry, traces

how does knowl(edge)

make a wall

or sound ( ) speak?

the mortar ( )

the silence ( )?

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

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St. Michael Stops to Get a Latte

by

community, critical theory, fear, fragments, mythic, obsessions, ways of knowing

every time I place down the pen

I fear the words will stop

they’ll stay hanging on the cusp

of the blue silence left behind

            within the repetitions

            within your words again

            within the sharp foot falls

            within the dance’s turn

the words fail

the world fails

*

the melancholy beast

strides through us all

Did you see it?

The line of the star?

Did you hear the echo,

I threw toward the air?

*

I am at a loss crumpled

against a wall:

I don’t know how to love you

how to fend off all my fears

how to provide a space for us

throughout our troubled day

*

What idea are you fighting against?

Which of the demons of the earth

are scrabbling at your feet?

What level of illusion are you lost within?

Which maw of hell has swallowed you?

(November 1, 2013)

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(sentimental folly)

by

dissatisfaction, obsessions, poetry, writing

drowning in waves

of sentimentality

clichés clot

like blood in the brain

our words confine

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

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Despair

by

dissatisfaction, metaphor, poetry, traces

after Lar Lubovitch’s Crisis Variations

Broken

Porcelain

Dolls

Lost

Fingers

Bent

Wires

Cracked

Faces

Without

Noses

Slump

Unclothed

Tangled

Together

Soft

Cotton

torsos

Exposed

Stained

Forlorn

(October 31, 2013)

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doors and stairs

by

borders, desire, fragments, identity formation, life, liminal, metaphor, obsessions, paradigms, poetry, space, time, traces

no mirrors or windows

not a trapped vision

but a step away

an ascent or descent

another level

beckons another place

to move toward

an allowed emptiness

a resurgent difference

a space other

than now within

arbitrary lines

permissions

ways away

toward from

phase to the side

an occlusion

a lunar excuse

current tides

heart’s pulsed

desires

(October 30, 2013)

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Loss

by

acceptance, desire, love, memory, poetry, silence

“everyone I know

goes away in the end”

–Trent Reznor

With bees in his bones,

he vibrates

within each step.

Hesitant to speak,

or move, a mirage

shimmers his mind.

His filter fails

to strain the day

from his desire;

his vision blinds

with nothing

to do but mourn

the loss suffered

within a gap

of his imagination.

(October 29, 2013)

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agoraphobic

by

borders, poetry, trust

so much emptiness engulfs him

he must build walls to cope

sub-divide the areas allowed

into smaller manageable allotments

lock doors lose keys step away

keep your acidic questions at bay

build a place where he can be

away from the edges of space

(October 28, 2013)

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hummingbird’s lust

by

love, metaphor, obsessions, poetry

lost in wonder

            as a rose unfolds

                        into morning air

I fall ripe

            with hunger into

                        yet another flower

(October 28, 2013)

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(sequence matters: end of the strand)

by

communication, fragments, language, poetry

whatwhatspeakunderstandthewhatofwhatcoherencedependsanorderwhere
whatonesaysmattersonlyintheseguencesinwhichonesayswhatmattersand
sequencematterseachlinkprovidesstrengthchainsthatbind
whatwhatspeakunderstandthewhatofwhatcoherencedependsanorderwhere
whatonesaysmattersonlyintheseguencesinwhichonesayswhatmattersand

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

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Two Poems from "My Book of Changes"

by

dissatisfaction, early work, hope, i ching, life, poetry, silence, writing

21. Clarity Shimmers the Day

November 10,1995

Silence prevents

understanding,

concedes to chaos.

Speak! Thunder rolls

sparking interest. Lightning

disperses night.

36. Veiled Light

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)

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Echo Without Reason

by

borders, desire, doubt, dream, life, liminal, love, obsessions, poetry, romance

within desire lies doubt

the no drapes the yes

like memory veils day

with a damp patina

always another way

a bend of thought

to turn a casual glance

toward stories not told

to hear echo as origin as if

her voice caresses his ear

with whispers of intent

through a risen morning’s mist

we wake into this dark

with expectations of dawn

(October 25, 2013)

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abstract

by

acceptance, doubt, interpretation, poetry, romance, silence

your distracted air

almost pulls a moment

like thread from my heart

to puddle hours

between us

and the floor

like knowledgeable

dimes

raining in

empty tin

cans

almost one

or an

other

in the autumnal air

but not you

nor me

(October 25, 2013)

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temptation of paris

by

borders, desire, fragments, life, mythic, obsessions, poetry

“horizon of truth”

–Michael Foulcault

a glimpse toward possible

a brighter arrival later

light’s hint bends into itself

a crux of infinite unfoldings

like dawn finding day

he moves toward a still point

a catastrophe of hearth wisdom and lust

an apple just past fingers’ grasp

(October 23, 2013)

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tumult

by

life, love, poetry, romance

what’s missing

is a space

a moment perhaps

or a chair to sit

and watch the second

which is there too

as well as you

(October 22, 2013)

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