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Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category

Ages

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged , , , on 06 Nov 2023| Leave a Comment »

I am not the man
I used to be
not in any sense

I have been rebuilt
a half dozen times
sloughing off my past
for a new shell

Top to toe
each atom
each molecule
has been replaced
like parts under warranty

I raise my refurbished hand
to shade my eyes and
sunlight fires my flesh
with light aeons old

But the iron in my blood
the carbon in my bones
though new to me
predate this blazing sun

My ever renewing form
is a gift from dying stars
birthed of elements
roared into being
at the genesis
of the universe itself

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Pathways

Posted in Creativity, Poetry, Writing, tagged , , , , , on 26 Oct 2023| Leave a Comment »

I have walked

From land to land and star to star
I have walked

Through lifetimes and histories unwritten
I have walked

Learning living loving leaving
One place one life one breathless moment
For the next
I have walked

Though not alone
For with each step each thought each dream-built notion
Through crepe-hung heartaches and clean-scented joys
To lead to follow or simply to be
There has been you

We
We have walked

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Garden Party

Posted in Gardening, Poetry, Seattle, tagged , , , , , , on 21 Sep 2023| 2 Comments »

sumac, feathered fronds waving, hear it first
autumn’s gentle rapping on the garden gate
put on parti-colored togs to greet the arrival

nearby maples eavesdrop on the reunion
catch half the meaning but all the sense of joy
don festive gloves on five-fingered leaves

sweetgum and dogwood wake with a start
having overslept in summer’s waning sun
leaves blushing with groggy embarrassment

wisteria, in denial, refuses to join the fun
and with tendril fingers in viny ears
will sing la-la-la until their guest departs

evergreen elders tower over the festivities
enjoying the youthful exuberance at their feet
preparing for storms they know will come

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The Persistence of Music

Posted in Creativity, Gardening, Poetry, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 17 Aug 2023| Leave a Comment »

Walking my garden paths
fingers inspecting leaves
snips cutting spent blossoms
I hum a tune born
four centuries past
across continents
and seas

I wonder if the author
as he wove his tapestry
of notes and voices
imagined his music
would live beyond his life
persist through time
as empires rose
and fell

I wonder if he
as the ink dried on
quavers and triads
imagined his melodies
would grace the flower-scented air
of distant gardens
in a land
unknown

 

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Notes for the New Student

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on 03 Aug 2023| 5 Comments »

do not put vowels
in the dishwasher
as they are made
of air and intention
and will likely melt

consonants are built
of sturdier stuff
and may go in
the upper rack

punctuation is best stored
in the garage with
nuts and bolts and
other fasteners

words once crafted may be
machine-washed and tumble-dried on low
but avoid fabric softener
unless the water is
especially hard

take time assembling
phrases and sentences
aligning them to the meridian
in a clean well-lighted place
free from excessive drafts

paragraphs benefit most
from a finish on the line
in springtime when the
breath of the waking world
begins to blow

non-fiction requires precision
and regular maintenance
so for peak performance
tune to 4° before
top dead center

patience is recommended
when assembling fiction
to ensure tight seams
and a proper fit

stir poetry
over low heat
until reduced
by half

 

k

 

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It’s Broke

Posted in Culture, Poetry, tagged , , , , on 13 Jul 2023| 2 Comments »

it’s broke, so broke
I wake and feel
each day’s harsh edge
broke like torn tin
sharp and hungry
unforgiving

why so angry?
so harsh, so cruel
as if people
weren’t people
as if kindness
had no value

we want we want
it’s all we know
we take we take
it’s all we do
our circles shrink
collapse, darken
into a void

I don’t believe
in souls or gods
though I did once
a long time past
but then people
showed me their truth
and it seemed best
to believe them

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Evanescent

Posted in Poetry, tagged , , , , , , on 08 Jun 2023| Leave a Comment »

he took the time
looked up at day’s end
at sun-fired clouds
watching
slow subtle shifting
rose red orange
spark flame ember
glowing rusting cooling

he took the time
enjoyed the splash
of shadowed flights
on the sunset canvas
hard-edged jetliner dark-winged crow arrow-fast songbird
from farthest to nearer to near
all the layered worlds
sunlight to twilight
that lay between
his eye and the heavens

he took the time
not for the beauty
filling the space
between his heartbeats
but to give time its due
not to be spent filled wasted
but lived in
a constant transition
a string of nows
reaching
from dark to dark
without end

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