poem
November 20, 2009
- Marilyn Monroe rules the world, at least The part visible in a photograph, standing Above the troops she’s about to bless With a song in her porous sequin dress, her arms Durably outstretched. She hasn’t aged a day In fifty years. The men too appear impossibly Young, mooning boys clotted around a woman Who just might show them something they’ve never seen. Picture the millions ...
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November 13, 2009
- After Chagall A man grips a woman by the shoulders On a bed in the open air, a courtyard With a wall no taller than their knees stopping No one from getting in or seeing them there In the middle of a town blue as the sky, An anxious overcast blue, both of them clothed, Both of them solemn and seated, ...
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November 12, 2009
- When I am an old woman, I shall wear wine-dark velvet in a retrospective style, with plumed hat, tilted at a rakish angle and toss off a brandy in one go. And quaff champagne because the sun is shining, or the rain won't go away, or because a deadline has taken wing for distant climes. I shall ...
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October 30, 2009
- Softly cursing in the graveyard on 4th Behind the church, an old man picks up detritus, The Halloween revelers vanished Like the years, overnight. He harvests more Than sticks, cupped leaves that creep along the brick walk Like hands, but wrappers, cans. Let screaming teens Have their carefree terror. With luck, ignorance Will last longer than they want, the truth Not haunt them with its frisson, ...
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October 27, 2009
- Here is a text for today, from Anthony Hecht's poem "A Fall" (but how the devil do you get a blog to print poetry in lines?):"The cowbell's ludicrous music, the austere / Sobrieties of Calvin, precision watches, / A cheese or two, and that is all the Swiss / Have given the world, unless we were to cite / The questionable morals of their banks."
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October 21, 2009
- I'm happy to report that Garrison Keillor is featuring my poem, The First Artichoke, today, Tuesday, October 20, at The Writer's Almanac. The poem is from my book, What Feeds Us.The timing of this feature doubles the pleasure. Right now I'm at the campus of Cayuga Community College for a three-day visit. The invitation for this visit came about as a result of Mr. Keillor reading my poem, ...
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October 16, 2009
- …we had better, in order to protect our civilization…wipe these untamed and untameable creatures from the face of the earth. —L. Frank Baum, in an editorial following the Wounded Knee massacre We watched, waited in terror for the terrible Moment to come so we could peek through sealed eyes As before, the showdown at the end Between sadist and ingénue, red sand In a ...
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October 14, 2009
- This poem of mine, with allusions to The Wizard of Oz , appeared in the Summer 2009 issue of Phi Kappa Phi Forum. WHAT’S UNDERNEATH: AFTER UNTITLED WOOD AND FIRED-CERAMIC PIECE BY MARIA SCOTT Frail bars, sunk deep in stone tempered by fire That could reduce a wooden grid to ash Leaving just the bedrock. We never tire Of raising cages, walls; we twine and lash Our rickety ...
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October 10, 2009
- were it not for the hesitation the quill quivering in my hand were it not for the loss of clarity my emotions a groundswell around me were it not for the missed opportunities i had many but failed to act were it not for the voices inside that had taken refuge in a wounded soul were it not for the temptations which rendered shadows on the ground around me were it not for ...
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October 5, 2009
- "I had a good time reading this book. Having two skin cancer surgeries over the last two weeks, I think it actually got me through them. There is a lot of sitting in the waiting room to see if they got it all, and sometimes (like last time) they have to do it all over again if they didn't. The doctor was surprised I didn't mind at all and it is because I was unable to put this book down. I ...
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