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My Poetry and Commentary on Life

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  • Bread Loaf Influence
  • Rock and Roll High School
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  • Three More Poems from "Sonnet"

    by

    communication, conversation, language, life, meaning, metaphor, poetry, ways of knowing

    one august day
    we trudged
    up the path
    to the top
    of bread loaf
    mountain
    how do you keep going
    she asked
    over his shoulder 
    he said 
    I think of something else
    —
    conversation’s
    never about
    the topic
    —
    translation
    equals
    metaphor
    a simple
    geometric
    congruency
    to speak
    is metaphor
    to our reflection
    what
    are we

    saying


    from “Sonnet,” (work in progress, line 10, syllables 4-6)


    (February 2012)

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  • Five Poems from "Sonnet"

    by

    acceptance, communication, hope, life, love, meaning, poetry, renga, storytelling

    Echos Down the Hall
    she imagines a story
    from minutia to another
    who spins it out again
    —
    thus the spider drains the fly
    —
    worn from the struggle
    and loss of support
    I once again pick up
    the scraps of my life
    and start to sew
    —
    she pricks her finger
    and watches the blood
    form a red bead
    she thinks as in a dream
    of moving but can’t
    yet does anyway
    she winks and wakes
    as if by a lover’s kiss
    to a world already here
    —
    and of course
    he had heard
    it all before
    the stock lines
    falling from lips
    he longed to kiss
    so what the words
    meant escaped
    unchanged by context
    falling between them
    like bricks to a wall

    from “Sonnet,” (work in progress, line 9, syllables 6-10)

    (February 2012)

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  • Storytellers

    by

    communication, conversation, life, liminal, meaning, poetics, poetry, storytelling


    tendrils seek the light
    vines weave through
    the trees’ branches
    birds build their nests
    among the recesses
    we talk over dinner
    of trivial things
    old jokes politics
    recipes and children
    from “Sonnet,” (work in progress, Third Quatrain, line nine, syllable 4)

    (January 2012)

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  • Sea Change

    by

    existential angst, poetry

    long waves

    flow through me
    days of relative content
    only to wake into despair
    another trough rolls by
    pushing me toward shore

    a piece of flotsam caught up
    in the eternal lunar pull


    from “Sonnet,” (work in progress, line 8, syllable 4)

    (January 2012)

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  • Ten Poems from "Sonnet," line Seven

    by

    existential angst, life, liminal, love, metaphor, paradigm shifts, poetry, renga, romance


     Half
    what’s missing he thinks is what’s wrong
    tell me what’s there to work with she asks
    both see the same flower before them
    neither see the same flower before them
    it is the glass which frames the problem
    —
    with one step
    we cross a border
    such a brave new world
    —
    traveling all night from Nice to Rome
    we stepped sleepily into the city street
    dazzled by the morning sun
    and the speed of the foreign tongue
    we were suddenly surrounded
    then robbed by gypsy children
    —
    what gets taken
    each time I see you
    whatever vague thoughts
    trouble my heart
    only to return
    as you depart
    —
    the frame of the door
    the walls of this room
    the language one uses
    define a space that is
    non-existent on its own
    an absence 
    an opening
    a new thought 
    a word
    —
    there is an art to hiding
    in the open to exposing
    yourself while you maintain
    your sense of self
    to move like waves of wind
    across a field of wheat
    one must let go of the earth
    and dance with the air
    —
    he holds the brush
    before the canvas
    lost in thought
    where to from here
    one step
    then another
    trust
    is a process
    there is no end
    —
    the door closes slowly
    I stand
    indecisive
    afraid of my choices
    —
    where are you now
    it’s cold outside
    —
    fear weaves
    like frost


    (January 2012)

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  • Two Poems, from "Sonnet"

    by

    hope, life, liminal, love, poetry, romance

    again
    we bend
    back to
    ourselves
    changed
    and
    unchanged
    motion
    without
    movement
    without time

    like
    the rose
    rising
    into
    a bud
    opening
    into
    full
    flower
    forever
    —
    near the garden
    a hint of roses
    edges toward me
    a presence
    on the periphery
    like a trace
    of laughter
    after
    she has left
    the room

    from “Sonnet”, (work in progress, line six, syllables 9 and 10)


    (January 2012)

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  • social construction

    by

    children, creativity, family, identity formation, life, meaning, metaphor, paradigm shifts, poetry, social construction

    for hours
    on the living room floor

    my children build
    worlds from plastic
    bricks

    each piece
    follows another

    for years
    our world unfolds

    from “Sonnet,” (work in progress, second Quatrain, sixth line, eighth syllable)


    (January 2012)

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  • Navigation

    by

    existential angst, love, poetry



    a scar traces a line
    across his patched heart
    like a dymaxion map
    of the world unfolding
    an unrealistic
    representation
    of his love
    in order to expose
    the all that is not there




    from “Sonnet,” (work in progress, second Quatrain, sixth line, second syllable)


    (January 2012)

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  • Sometimes It’s Work

    by

    acceptance, existential angst, life, poetry, work

    it’s cold outside
    uncertain
    his house safe
    and
    calm
    if I make
    the right concessions
    if I stay on script
    I can sit near his fire
    and spoon feed him my soul
    from “Sonnet,”  (work in progress, 2nd Quatrain, fifth line, ninth syllable)
    (January 2012)





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  • Three Poems from "Sonnet"

    by

    existential angst, poetry, renga

    I woke
    then walked
    into fog
    rising
    from the nearby creek
    to shroud the trees
    and street
    as if
    in clothes
    of the dead
    the bald ugliness
    of each day’s
    exchange
    watched
    nearby
    —
    so we go on
    fumbling down
    the trail
    in the dark
    our hands fall
    on rough bark
    and we look up
    beyond the black leaves
    somewhere
    above the trees
    the moon flows quietly
    unseen
    behind clouds
    —
    beneath the talk
    I swim my past
    drowning in shallows
    (from “Sonnet,”  a work in progress, Second Quatrain, first line, syllables 1,2 and 3)


    (January 2012)



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  • but the money was good

    by

    critical theory, existential angst, poetry, ways of knowing


    then there we were
    home
    from our cruise
    turning the knob
    on the oven
    eating well
    the wine tart
    and ice cold
    on the stereo
    a saxophone
    moaned
    a smoky solo
    one could
    hardly hear
    the screams
    coming
    from the neighbor’s
    house
    (January 2012)

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  • myopic

    by

    hope, life, love, poetry, romance, ways of knowing


    my vision is limited
    I see what is nearby
    the distance mere shapes
    and vague shadows
    I see you in front of me
    your smile and your eyes
    where I go next
    shifts away
    from “Sonnet,” (work in progress, line 4, syllable 8)
    (January 2012)


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  • from "Sonnet," (work in progress, third line)

    by

    communication, hope, identity formation, language, life, liminal, love, meaning, paradigm shifts, poetry, renga, romance, social construction, ways of knowing

    memory is creative
    filling in between
    the shadow and the light
    something new between
    what is thought
    and what is seen
    – –
    now
    exists
    on the cusp
    of when
    – –
    such naïve terms:
    still I wake
    into a new sun
    to wrestle my crystalline fears
    with love and hope
    for they shield
    my metaphorical heart
    as I naively long
    to see
    her eyes come
    for me
    – –
    so many unspoken words
    (like limits of secret pacts
    these borders we cannot cross
    without learning  new language)
    to speak to one another
    – –
    To find water at a stop in the alps
    I jumped off the train
    going from Vienna to Venice.
    Lisa called to hurry,
    flakes sparkled the night like stars;
    I danced with snow for the second time.
    – –
    then there
    you are
    already
    within
    the familiar
    – –
    the air forms to your body
    without effort
    I breathe you in
    – –
    not so much a matter of will,
    as it’s a matter of will not.
    – –
    a rose unfolds despite its beauty;
    the weed despite our disdain:
    he longs and obsesses
    as easily as she coyly
    plays with her hair
    while laughing at him
    – –
    intent
    (December 2011)

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  • Three Poems

    by

    acceptance, liminal, poetry, renga

    the world exists
    in front of you
    with luck
    a peripheral sight 
    expands you
    enough to bend 
    back upon your vision
    to create a new sense 
    of self that can see
    how great a fool you are
    –
    Work
    sing
    shuffle your feet
    another day is done
    –
    another dance
    before the night is through
    circle slowly
    around the room
    think again
    what might have been
    (from “Sonnet,” a work in progress: syllables 8, 9 and 10: line 2)
    (December 2011)

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  • Me and Lisa, 1979

    by

    life, love, paradigm shifts, poetry, romance

    among the crepe myrtle

    and spring flowers
    of austin’s japanese garden
    we would feast
    on canned smoked oysters
    cheap wine and each other
    from “Sonnet” (work in progress, 2nd line, syllable 7)


    (December 2011)

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