Poems
And I Say Yes to the Way the Grass
needs the soil and the soil needs the grass,
the way the candle needs the wick
and the wick needs the candle. Yes
to the way the lion and the buck need
one another, and the bluebird the caterpillar.
To the ocean that needs a shore for its waves.
Yes to the cymbals for needing the violins
and violins for needing the winds,
to the four winds and the sixteen
quarter winds and the thirty-two winds
it takes to make a compass rose.
Yes to each rose petal that needs the other
forty petals to be a rose, and to the rose
for enfolding all the petals before
letting them die for the new bud.
And I say yes to the stars closing their eyes
at the same time to share the darkness,
yes to the viaduct of rain in the valley
of thirst, yes to the time we live with
because we’ve got to live with it,
yes to loving better, to coming in
from anywhere.
Walking the Woods with You on the Day of Atonement
The rain has swelled the scent of sod’s decay.
You squat to a toad, squashed except its head,
Homo Sapiens Dead at 300,100
Homo sapiens – died after a long and
debilitating illness on August 13, 2121. An
autopsy attributed the cause of death to
omnicide.
On Long Pond
Morning fog a blur of firs light-green on the far shore
I look up a flock of swallows unfurls
Thinking About the Octopus
—after the film The Octopus Teacher
I’m thinking about how she opens every one of her three hearts,
and all the brain cells in her eight arms,
To the BRCA Gene
The Galapagos Tortoise
Here’s a video of me reading my poem “The Galapagos Tortoise,” which was published in the 2020 issue of RHINO. I made the video in response to a call from RHINO: they had to cancel their release party because of the coronavirus and asked contributors to participate in a virtual launch. I’m joined by one of the giant tortoises from the island of St. Croix.
Enjoy!
- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next »
