a quarter moon slips
below the horizon
as an empty lifeboat
drifts out of reach
of the sinking ship
(February 4, 2025)
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How Poetry Haunts Me
Beneath the whispers
I hear a nascent breath:
a phrase, isolated,
out of context, yet
still a residual force—
like a white noise
days after a concert,
sings in my inner ear.
Outside the poem,ghosts of my desires
rise mouthing words
out of order, slurred,
as a pentacostal’s
frozen fire burns.
(February 3, 2025)
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Quick Take: Bewilderment
by
I finished “Bewilderment” by Richard Powers last night. It was a lovely disturbing and heart-rending novel. Awhile back RFB read The Overstory by Powers, it too was lovely and disturbing, but not quite as sad. Where The Overstory was about trees and the destruction of nature and our connection to it, Bewilderment is about the destruction of life as we know it and ourselves. If you have read “Flowers for Algernon” you will recognize the strong allusions and parallels to that classic novel. (If you haven’t read Algernon—what is wrong with you?) In addition to the end of life on the planet, Bewilderment is also about the relationship between a father and son after the loss of the wife/mother. If you haven’t read The Overstory, you should read it. Bewilderment is also great, and a bit shorter. -
Quick Take: Lost in Austin: The Evolution of an American City by Alex Hannaford
by
I finished Lost in Austin by Alex Hannaford in a couple of days. It disaggregates the changes in Austin for the worse over the last 25 years (for the most part, with some historical background going back into the 1980’s). My experience of living in the Austin area since 1978 confirms all of what he says in the book. Austin has become too expensive to live in: median income versus median housing costs do not match up. Living in a semi-arid region which is quickly becoming flat out arid due to climate change causes the city to not be “fun” to live in. The increasing descent into right-wing political madness makes the social/political climate unbearable to those attracted to the laid back attitude of Austin. While I agree with most of what Hannaford details in the book about the changes in Austin, I can’t help but think about the old light bulb joke: How many Austinites does it take to change a light bulb? Three. One to change the light bulb, and two to talk about how much better the old light bulb was. Austin has always been different to each succeeding wave of people who move here. The book is a fast read, Hannaford keeps things moving. His mixture of personal reflection of “his Austin” with historical facts (most of which I remember as they occurred) make it an enjoyable and informative book. The sad part is that, like him, it makes me want to finally give up on “my Austin” and move.
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Less Regard than a Sparrow
“untroubled by a leaf falling
in a garden”
—George Oppen
lost in worry
which troubles you
more than
the obvious deaththe obvious moment
in which you live
most of what you knowhas diminished
from nuance
eroded into a massirrelevant
grave
(January 23, 2025)
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Haberdashery at the End of the World
these are
the clothes
that are
left us
these arethe rags
we must
wear now
the pastdivests
the future
of allfashion
but one
(January 23, 2025)
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Occluded
by
I’ve lost my glasses.
Fog hangs thick; it’s hard to see
beyond the back fence.
The new moon lurks above me,
almost as dark as the sky.
(January 19, 2025)
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Quick Take: The Gospel According to Jesus
by
On the advice of a character from a Jim Harrison novel I was reading many years ago, I ordered two translations of Stephen Mitchell: The Book of Job, and The Gospel According to Jesus. I finally got around to reading one of them (one big advantage of retirement). Over the last couple of weeks I have read The Gospel According to Jesus. It was interesting and worthwhile. It opens with a lengthy introduction, followed by a translation of the parts of the gospels which in some versions would be the red-letter parts. After that section, Mitchell returns to the various parts thematically, accompanied with commentary. The commentary is a mixture of Mitchell, selections from Biblical scholars, and similar themes in philosophy (Buddhist, Taoist), and poetry (Blake, Rilke for example). As one of the blurbs on the back of the book says, “This approach succeeds brilliantly. Jesus, or at least Mitchell’s attractive portrait of him, leaps. into life and will fire the interest of believers and nonbelievers alike. (Harvey Cox)” And no, I have not abandoned my apostasy. -
Notes on Point of View
no more than this moment of light
which is enough for now
to bring me to a halt
long enough for the dogsto look at me bewildered
then a deer rises from the earthbounds over the high grass
silent as the slow glow
of the rising winter sun
one dog noticesthe other notices
our notice
both wag their tails(January 16, 2025)
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Mandala
fuck my life I say
as I go about my day—
ritual defines
(January 10, 2025)
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another year
by
the dogs bark out back
again the wind ignores them
each to their nature
a warm new year’s eveends the hottest year ever
our world is burning
we live deludedwithout trust in what we see
shadows form our wall
of course old leaves fallas easy as the sun sets—
another new year
the wind is only the windthe sun will rise without us
(December 31, 2024)
-
each day a broken ritual
the last bottle of champagne is empty
I pour a glass of malbec opened
for Christmas, three days ago—
there are no secretsonly unacknowledged lies
(December 29, 2024)
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transition
by
an afternoon is enough:
an hour, or so, with the sun
as shadows slip across
the walls and ceiling
he was there,and now he’s not
(December 27, 2024)
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Winter Solstice
by
Crows fly overhead
with raucous caws.
With less than an hour
before the long night begins,
I start a fire in the back yard.
Inside where candles burn,
guests gather bearing wine and gifts.
Spilling some wine, I turn
from the fire and wave
to my friends inside.
Tonight we share food,
and laughter. Fear of the dark
hangs on the edge of the fire.
Of this, we are all aware.
Tonight, we smile, hug,
and toast the coming year:
there is always hope.
Tomorrow, the light,
in daily increments, begins
to slowly turn from the night.
(December 22, 2024)
