Upon Reading
At least I think I read it, did I not? / The book exists and was read, but by whom? / I’m beginning to feel that I’m the trousered ape / Who feels that a slide rule is for scratching one’s back
Read MoreTag: Poetry
The Road, The Tao, The Way
There is of course the Road, the Tao, the Way / And traveling it is more difficult with age / Or maybe now it travels more for us / But still the Road, the Tao, the Way leads on
Read MorePsalm 102:7
I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop
awaiting the whisper of dawn to caress the vacant charcoal peaks, asleep.
Breakfast in Constantinople
The waitress greeted us in Saint Petersburg / We drank strong coffee in Alexandria / Our omelets were served in Cambridgeshire / As we gossiped in the narthex of Hagia Sophia
Read MoreEcology (Psalm 84)
Let my verses meander, woven around fields / of hallowed kindness, their hummed liturgies
Read MoreAn Active School Meeting in Progress
This morning I drove by my old school / A staff meeting was being committed inside / Perpetrating crimes against intelligence / “HELLO MY NAME IS” / 10,000 years of civilization?
Read MoreCurious Events
At the gas station I bought a Chinese rocket / And worried that a lottery might fall from the sky / I tucked away the ticket into my pocket / Or tucked my pocket into my ticket – but why?
Read MoreThe Passing of The Queen
Few constants obtain in our shifting world / And even those constants must leave us at last / Even as the mists of September obscure / The golden days of a summer now past
Read MoreThe Prince-Poet-Cat of Gatineau, Quebec
In an ice-cream summer in the long ago / I met a marvelous cat in Gatineau / Pushkin by name, a fastidious Russian / His shiny fur coat never needed brushin’…
Read MorePoetry in the Desert
A story told about Field Marshal Wavell is that while throwing some things into a bag for a field tour of soldiers defending India from invasion by the Japanese, he asked if anyone had seen his Browning. When someone pointed out that he was wearing it – his Browning 9mm – he said that he was looking for his copy of the poems of Robert Browning. In all his campaigns, Wavell always carried poetry with him.
Read MoreLight Raindrops Upon the Withered World
After months of dreary drought and heat / Light raindrops fall upon the withered world
Read MoreLike Candles When They Quietly Go Out
When we were young / A friend once showed me a passage in a book / In which the monks of a certain cloistered order / Were often blessed with wonderfully peaceful deaths / Like candles when they quietly go out
Read MoreThere’s an atmospheric pressure
There’s an atmospheric pressure / That’s in more than just the air / It’s a sluggish, heavy parasite / That hides behind the glare
Read MoreA Violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics
A day so hot that ordinary tasks / Exhaust the body and the soul; to grasp / The handle of a water tap wearies the mind / To grasp a simple thought eludes one’s will /
Read MoreThe Grail’s Call
I was the song of Patrick’s heart,
and what made Arthur’s quest start.
When the music of Taliesin ceased to flow,
I saw the invaders come and go.
Beowulf and the Danish Passport Officer
The clapped-out Boeing / wheezed to the gate // The ground crew jumped / name-tags rattling // And swiftly moored / the shining ocean-bird
Read MoreDo you feel the light go out?
Do you feel the light go out
Like a light bulb with a flick?
A flame extinguished at the wick?
Seven Haiku for the Pleiades
All in the same sky:
Luna, Venus, Jupiter
While the soft winds sigh…
There’s An Atmospheric Pressure
There’s an atmospheric pressure That’s in more than just the air It’s a sluggish, heavy parasite That hides behind the glare
Read MoreBut Which Jaw Drops?
An advert assures us its product is jaw-dropping
If true, this loss of body parts would be painful
And which part of the purchaser’s jaw drops?
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