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My Poetry and Commentary on Life

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Dream of Erato

by

communication, conversation, hope, liminal, love, obsessions, poetry, romance, sonnets

“Change,” she says to him.

“Yes, change,” he replies

placing his head upon

her shoulder, “change.”

He speaks quite freely

of love inside the dream;

outside, he awkwardly

watches as she speaks.

Her hands and eyes dance

between her words to

open a space of refuge

for his heart to hide.

Outside the dream, he

again desires to dream.

(September 2012)

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Not Much to Say Tonight

by

acceptance, hope, poetry, thinking

too tired

to follow my thought

I lag behind

the leaping image

wolves gather along

the edge of the herd

(August 2012)

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Transition

by

existential angst, life, liminal, paradigm shifts, poetry, sonnets

then without a thought the world breaks open

like a condom during sex and you think

oh dear ever so slightly distressed but

it feels like perfection in the moment

responsibility and delight laugh

at themselves cynical and unswerving

as the case may be depending always

upon the various eddies you tend

to trend toward in the given flow of now

until I think all that we ever are

is a collection of primal twitches

bound into a bag of fear and desire

then thrown into our tumultuous lives

like a sack of cats tossed off a high bridge

(August 2012)

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Position, or Where We Are Now

by

communication, conversation, hope, life, love, metaphor, obsessions, poetry, sonnets

suddenly the sequence coheres around

you and what at first seemed random became

so much more than the depth I could fathom

the moment so profound and obvious

that you almost missed its passing despite

all of the vague insinuations like now

when the soft truth of the day will unfold

like prescient roses to the butterfly’s

probe or the day’s narrator’s causal

bon mot which of course was never quite

casual nor calculated but more

with an eye on hope like a fisherman’s

cast into still water near the willow’s

roots where the sleepy catfish dreams of love.

(August 2012)

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Clarity

by

life, metaphor, paradigms, poetry, thinking, ways of knowing

“time to undream”

–Michael Palmer

he peels off his eyelids

then stares at the sky

blood clots and crusts

along the tattered flesh

like raw rubies

strung along a knife

(August 2012)

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Proof

by

dream, life, metaphor, poetry

“but there is no way to correct a dream”

–Lyn Hijinian

he wakes

aware

of having dreamed

he longs

to tell

someone near

words thicken

the edge

of the dream

he whispers

look there’s

nothing there

waving his hand

he flicks dust

from the air

he collects

himself

from this dream

pulls warmth

from nonexistent

fire

a miser

of his own

mendacities

(August 2012)

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37. Put Your Own House In Order

by

babies, children, communication, conversation, critical theory, education, family, hope, paradigms, poetry, social construction, ways of knowing

July 17

A friend shrugged his shoulders pessimistically,

“The nation’s in decline, but what can ya’ do?”

Weeks later, I’m still disturbed.

I read Ezra and Quinn “Theseus and the Minator.”

Lilith’s seduction into books has just begun.

A pebble ripples the entire lake.

(July 1995, from My Book of Changes)

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petals

by

life, poetry, thinking, ways of knowing

a rose

near this door
unfolds over

a few days

unfolds slowly

each day

I take care

to watch

each time

I walk by

or I only see

what I’ve seen

(August 2012)

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The Day’s Spaces

by

acceptance, communication, hope, life, liminal, love, meaning, poetry, romance, ways of knowing

and then I am here

thinking of you yet again

and then I am here

another turn in the maze

and then I am here

years of vague musings

and then I am here

shaped through my desires

and then I am here

a slow seduction

and then I am here

the walls rise quickly

and then I am here

entangled in your words

and then I am here

awake in this dream

and then I am here

deciphering these signs

and then I am here

with a tattered map

and then I am here

only a step away

and then I am here

thinking of you not here

(August 2012)

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No Promises

by

conversation, hope, life, love, metaphor, poetry, romance

I offer only what I have.

Here, take my hand.

Come with me.

Let us see this world

we walk through together.

(August 2012)

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What I Know

by

communication, conversation, dream, identity formation, inner speech, life, liminal, meaning, poetry, social construction, ways of knowing

“Memory believes before knowing remembers”

William Faulkner

Let me tell you a story,

my story; but a story

one could tell in lieu

of any other story.

I remember fear

shuffling down the hall

like a snuffling bear

dying into the night.

I knew as I know,

bears don’t rage

in suburban homes

smashing televisions;

And yet, believing in stories,

I listened and became

a part of what was

in order to believe.

But anger burns reason,

and memory, unreasonably,

rewrites itself continually

into happy redemptions.

So the bear sleeps uneasily

in a bed just so, somewhat

safe in our state

of emotional wreckage.

Now, leave with this story

trailed by a moral ambiguity

tinged with what you believe

to remember of this day.

(August 2012)

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Analogical Possibility

by

dream, hope, identity formation, life, liminal, love, metaphor, obsessions, poetry, romance, ways of knowing

it’s as if then love

tosses about like insomniacs

the night pretends a solace

as the day begins again

then love flits away

before we wake to see

as chance drops a coin

then another on the table

a third falls into doubt

three coins tossed six times

it’s as if hope echoes you

with each metallic ping

such as much as this

and thus we read each

random crack across

the ice from which we

walk as if it’s then safe

enough to search for you

yet there’s the rub if ever

enough can be enough for

love ripples out through out

each of the shores we wander

until we wake with chance

into each other’s darker night

(August 2012)

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Seduction

by

communication, hermenutics, hope, meaning, metaphor, poetry, writing

look but don’t look

a surreptitious glance

along a periphery

as if speaking plainly

into a metaphor

she will not understand

a cat crouches

in thicker grass

below the finch’s branch

where to next where

to now the bird’s eye

tilts askew to ground

embedded within

each purred word

a muted pearl

come to me now

sing your song here

in this different wood

(August 2012)

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Outside In

by

acceptance, identity formation, life, liminal, poetry, social construction, ways of knowing

Here, I shift,

uncomfortable in

what clothes

others dress me;

yet, I wear

what’s offered:

oblivious to

alternatives.

Alone, I live

within myself

whistling my song

slightly out of tune.

I chase my shadows,

wisps, which vanish

in the silent air

along these edges.

(July 2012)

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Within One Definition

by

conversation, life, love, meaning, poetry, ways of knowing

“by my words will I be justified”

                        -Susan Howe

he writes

to trouble

his margins

            this is his place

            here

            within his words

looking for him

she reads signs

he leaves behind

            some easy

            to follow

            like bread crumbs

            others

            she must tease

            from twig snaps

even when close

they are apart

the words they say are

not always what they hear

he speaks            she listens

she speaks            he listens

what parts are understood

shape the heart

within each other

(July 2012)

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