some new snippets of poems (lines don't really break like this)

This line exists

                       between handshakes

                           and infinity

a circle drawn
twelve degrees

walking,          or a horse, backwards

create a boundary between

is and            

will be

*************

we begin with contention

this picking apart the edges

if this point were movement

this motion, a subtle shift

if the line between drifts
away

you walk backward

into a time when

On Bali, climate catastrophe

standing at the precipice
looking over, we sigh,

(these words spoken so many times before)

disappearance: ice
bears
birds
dolphins
diversity
fish
frogs
food
clean air
water
peace

We are not doing enough. We stand at the edge of ice, the edge of prairie, the edge of forest.
We are watching as the storm comes to overwhelm us. We are not prepared.
***********************************************************************************

I love this earth, the beauty and wildness of it. I don't want to tame it. I want to grow things and watch them flourish. I want to marvel at the simplicity of a sparrow's movements. I want to challenge myself to do better by this place that holds me and allows me to grow. I want us all to do better by this world. It is so beautiful and nourishing and we are ruining it. I don't always know how to make things better, but I care deeply about the state of the world. I only wish our government's representatives cared. I wish they could see beyond their own self interest. We need to shake them out of their stupors. And while we're at it, we should shake ourselves out of complacency.

more "Loose the Stays"

Since there was some interest in these poems, I figured I'd post a few more. I do not have images of all of the poems, which is something I need to work on.

Anyway, enjoy. And thanks for reading.

an old project, revisited

This is one of about twenty poems I did using Susan Brownmiller's book Femininity as the ground for a new narrative. They are tenatively titled "Loose the Stays", but since the format is odd, I haven't really published them. I have been trying to figure out how to make them work in print. Currently, I have been scanning them and storing them as pdf files. This is a project I am still very proud of, and want to see produced as a group.

new suitcase poems

11.

Keys lost [----] ago--
edges fray, you mend

summer of building---

how it all comes
a --- part
that parting finality

it echoed silent
cold-------

Nothing in the right place
walls patterned wildly
she----once blonde

It---all---lost---here

we pack essence,
this entering


12.

I will draw the case around
take you to meet mother---
father nodding approval

Your name resonnates blankness
a blank look forward
hand cups neck
the fragile bones

blink----stutter----sigh
ssssssssoooooo heerre weee aarre

stain of pine
foot print pressed

no songs tonight---
nothing to take along---

suitcase series, continued

This does not fit-----

background looming

"Don't tell me WHERE"

now, staring-----
blank star----
blue so vibrant

hand on hip, hand on hand
a bellow or a sigh

now a glass bridge
peeking through to the floor

arms, only arms
his face ragged, unshaven

cramming it into-----
are we home?

some new suitcase poems

7.

This time, you travel alone--
slowly the leaves drop

his hands---rough---against
the---impossible---silence

Names, faces, how to use a fork
they vanish
no words to describe
cardinals in trees,
water slapping sand

wood discolored from rain
neighbors talk through gaps
the blurring vision

wrap tight the bundle
held against shoulders, walking

8.

Seeming heavier with each step
the mud sticks to boots--
orange clay, orange coat--
his hat hangs on the rack

Yesterday whispers
whimpers against progress
standing still, your steadiness
long----long-ing---slow
trees trace jagged sky
a tree---house

She called herself-----
small voice--squealing
behind slatted doors--
creeping light across horizon

9.

You leave a stone to mark each step

songs filter

fog fills--------------you cut

this---not wanting---to live

shadows accumulate against
moments anger overwhelmed

coral lipstick, pearl earrings

names tangle------------slip

hands on wheel,
cracking boards

breath falls sideways

a slow quiver against
hard edges of solitude

distance between here and --------