Tag: Poetry

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Poetry

The Imperative

The Imperative

I no longer dream the same dream:
My heart sleeps, a tight fist of petals.
How can I live with myself?
At dawn, my quiet heart unfurls.

My heart sleeps, a tight fist of petals.
I recall how we danced in the parlor.
At dawn, my quiet heart unfurls.
When I was young, I knew the answer.

I recall how we danced in the parlor.
The truth is an untamed mongrel.
When I was young, I knew the answer.
I could dance any dance.

The truth is an untamed mongrel –
I discovered this myself.
I could dance any dance,
yet where you go I can not follow.

I discovered this: myself.
How could I remain unchanged?
And where you go, I can not follow.
This greedy thing grew inside me.

How could I remain unchanged?
I nearly erased all trace of myself.
This greedy thing grew inside me.
Now, I must answer the question.

I nearly erased all trace of myself.
I no longer dream the same dream.
Now, I must answer the question.
How can I live with myself?

Photograph by markthegrey, Benton St. bridge over the Fox River, downtown Aurora, IL USA

Categories
Poetry

On Wordsworth’s Birthday

Each April, the returning host
won’t be ignored.
I could have opened this poem
with the sonorous croaks
of migrating cranes before
turning to daffodils.

One April morning,
I found myself writing
as I strained to contain
another dreadful headline
until I failed to find
the apt metaphor for a madman
gassing his countrymen.

Just once, let me wake
empty as a cool dry well,
carry my rusty bucket
over the dewy lawn,
shower the violets in rainbows,
turn from their trembling petals
and call it an empty day.

Categories
Poetry

Villanelle: I Am Greater Than This Darkness

Categories
Poetry

A Poet’s Resolution

Of means, none silent as the candle

greetings, none soft as dawn

causes, none grand as the moth

to weave moonlight each night.

Of words, make mine such steel

that I too would render

wonder from darkness.

Categories
Poetry

Daydream: A Poem

I live in an era of stars
Long after their birth
Long before 
The last dim red dwarf disappears

My home is a river of light
Bright pin-pricks
And pinwheels
Familiar figures of my night.

Even as I sleep I weave
Color-stained dreams
From threads of daylight.

But I am easily fooled.
The truth is I live in an era of darkness.

The truth is one moment
Of starlight in an infinite
And expanding black pool
And the blessing is this I forget
Categories
Poetry

The Pursuit of Happiness

Happiness is not yours.
A guest in our home,
It arrives warm, bright, generous,
Leaves quietly before its time.
Happiness is not mine.
It lives untamed
In wilderness between our hands
But not in our hands.
A tide between our shores,
Happiness is not yours
To keep, not mine to give.
But it may be shared
As you swim beside me,
The wake trailing your body
Gently joining mine.

Categories
Poetry

The Gift

What comes each dawn                                      
I do not know

Dawn knows no reason                              
Keeps its own season

Buds at budding time                                
Ripens at harvest time

Dies in its prime                                        
Leaves one fresh gift

To confound the clever painter            
Blending at their palette.

Categories
Poetry

Peace Keeping

Peace Keeping   

My garden has been my refuge,
but I’ve been away too long. 

One evening I found my garden
shot through in crimson, gold, and wildfire.

As the sun pressed lower 
I drew water for the birds.

Kneeling under red clumps of currants 
I plucked greedy weeds and scattered 

fists of mulch over sleeping roots.   
Now in shadow I chopped tangled 

thorns and nettle, avoiding their fire. 
I took up my spade and opened a trench 

to guard the perimeter from crabgrass.
Come nightfall I set down my tools, 

and in the cool darkness 
I lay silent and still
beneath the moon’s soft blanket.

Categories
Poetry

Categories
Poetry

Epistle: November Poem