subtext

My Poetry and Commentary on Life

  • This Writer’s Beginnings: EarlyYears
  • Bread Loaf Influence
  • Rock and Roll High School
  • About

Designed with WordPress

  • Hubris Waits in This Illusion

    by

    audacity, borders, critical theory, life, poetry, response
    so self-assured you know
    what everyone must do
    so easy to dictate other’s actions
    when you have nothing to lose
    so simple to be idealistically clean
    when living within an abstraction
    so trapped in your tacit vision
    that all must see for redemption
    so sure your way is the way
    for everyone to blindly crave
    so oblivious to your echoes
    of those you claim to fight

    (December 13, 2013)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Matter of Fact

    by

    audacity, doubt, life, poetry, response
    still I pretend
    that what I love
    and dream
    matters
    still I pretend
    despite
    the disdain
    that I matter
    still I pretend
    because it does
    matter
    to me

    (December 13, 2013)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Unrelenting

    by

    i ching, life, poetry, traces, writing
    November 27, 1995
    It never stops:
    the relentless purging,
    sloughing of dead skin.
    Blindered, I forge ahead,
    constant in change,

    seeing only my first desire.

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

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • regret

    by

    audacity, dissatisfaction, life, memory, poetry
    I wrote laments last year
    as if I had actually lost
    something instead of never
    having the audacity to ask
    my hand on the gate’s latch
    hesitated and did not open
    I turned to pace the confines
    of my familiar rose garden

    (December 12, 2013)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • to sleep perchance

    by

    desire, dissatisfaction, poetry
    if I could sleep
    even a little
    instead of waking
    through the night
    to listen like now
    to the dark
    without a pen
    to answer back
    then the day’s
    distractions
    might pull away
    and not intrude
    domineering
    what I say

    (December 11, 2013)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • trees and shadows

    by

    poetry, ways of knowing, writing
    somewhere no
    rainbows yet
    somewhere yes
    other than here
    we tussle so
    much we become
    something no
    one can know
    without becoming
    as well what
    we abhor so
    instead desire
    occults our mind
    to avoid full
    discharge beneath
    an unforgiving moon

    (December 11, 2013)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Ditty

    by

    desire, erato, poetics, poetry, traces
    Memory plays a song on her guitar;
    It resonates darkly within the air.
    Each breath I take ignites a desire
    for what should be played upon her lyre.
    Her melody teases throughout my day,
    leaving me, finally, with nothing to say.

    (December 10, 2013)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • parsing

    by

    borders, communication, community, interpretation, language, poetry
    how do words mean
                what process unfolds the sound
    when do words mean
                before after or as we speak
    where do words mean
                what context allows a space
    why do words mean
                what desire pulls the ear
    who do words mean
                each one together alone
    what do words mean
                everything and nothing

    (December 10, 2013)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • Look Up, Look Down

    by

    i ching, liminal, poetry, thinking
    December 8, 1995
    The lake reflects the sky
    only along the still surface.
    I tread water in the middle
    of a lake, softly floating, watching
    the clouds dance with their drifting 

    reflections across the sky.

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

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • there

    by

    poetics, poetry, writing
    too tired
    to think even
    if it fits into
    the only time
    to think more
    than is possible
    as you scribble
    frantically to catch
    the final breath
    before hubris
    slaps you sharply
    and you wonder
    why you cringe
    beneath what you
    say to hide what
    you want to say
    so you leave it
    there unsaid
    on the edge
    of the margin
    before the pen’s
    wet nib sets
    like a kiss
    onto the accepting
    surface of the page

    (December 8, 2013)

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • The Well

    by

    acceptance, early work, i ching, lonely, poetry

    December 5, 1995
    With no one to talk to – –
    friends depart or lose interest.
    I look down into a well.
    The water remains clear;
    fish swim happily.

    I pick up my book and leave.

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

    Share this:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…
  • 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:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) 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:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) 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:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) 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:

    • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
    • Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
    • Share on X (Opens in new window) X
    • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
    • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
    Like Loading…




«Previous Poem Next Poem»
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    subtext
    Join 410 other subscribers

    Have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.

  • subtext
    View site in Reader
    Manage subscriptionsSign upLog in
    Report this content
    Collapse this bar
%d