McCarra / Poetry

Twenty Poems / November 2019

2019-12-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

When We Still

once upon a time, when we still

believed in happy endings, the ice

cracked beneath our boots in the

parking lot, spring still to come, those

flowers garlanded through your hair

and your voice so far, so far away

and fading away as if caught and

carried by the wind, scrambling your

syllables as the tines of the fork thrust

through the stew, vegetable matter chopped

none too fine, yet we shall not

choke, I think

the three wishes given and gone, the

finger pricked, used to pen some

scarlet script, a crimsoned syllabus

brightening her eyes, cheeks rosered

lilywhite by turns

Alpha and Omega

In the beginning, when all was new,

and you and I and the green shoots

looked up at the sun, there

was no need to jockey for position,

snarling at this one, spitting at the

other, smearing and slandering all

the day long, the hecklers from

the penny-seats, delighting in the

murky depths they could sink to, as

if a moray eel with razor-teeth, lurking

in the brackish waters, brother to that one

beneath the feet of a woman, crawling forever

upon his belly, lowest of the low, while

bully-boys clear the room with a cane,

rigging outcomes with a heavy hand,

laying the lies on, thick as buttercream

on teacakes studded with pretty pills.

still, my alpha and omega, as

the green leaves have changed to

scarlet-gold, crimsontipped, blood-orange, burning

up into the blueskies, flametrees flagrant, the

truth of the season shifting. The sky is

not black because someone says

it is so. I will believe

the evidence of

my eyes.

Triune Themed

morning, noon, and night these

three muses (Calliope, Erato, and

Thalia)

inspire new ways to utter those

three little words we let slip

after a late dinner and

too much wine, inspiring tercets in

triplicate, the three sandwiched sheets

of paper, carbon, and paper again

dusting fingers with soot, dust you are and

dust you will return to, so says Father,

Son, and Holy Ghost, the triune

God blessed when the trifecta lines

your pockets with green, triple digits this

time and you bless the gods and

the muses three, informing your words, the

beginning, middle, and end of all our histories,

the love, loyalty, and friendship gold-emblazoned

upon your hand and heart

Night Missive

written to memory, in the dark, one letter at

a time, then separating phrases like

sheep from goats, wheat from chaff,

engaging in verbal

gymnastics, the turn of phrase to turn

the eye to the next page, and the next. Is

this chatter made up of the sparks from

stars? More likely from the thin strip of

gold where the door (nearly)

closes, a glimmer of brilliance, words, like pearls,

strung, one after another, amidst the

slumping shadows of upholstery, curtains,

clothing, the

clobber of an acquisitive nature.

tomorrow: to seek out the blue box

mushroomed at a corner, or mid-block,

brighter than their green, stolid cousins,

squat above a slab of concrete.

see here: the rain, puddled, magnifies the

words, those restrictions on weighty

prattle, tied in brown paper and twine,

destined for pawing by a thick-fingered

clerk in baby blue, hazardous words indeed

At Sixes and Sevens

ah, the rivulets of tea streaming from

upended crockery, the jam

smeared, half upon the toast

and half upon the cloth, the boiled

eggs ill-timed and runny,

all at sixes and sevens, both as

cross as two sticks, so she says

let’s close our eyes, dear,

and start again, afresh,

before we espy the

sun peering through those

bare branches, spindly and austere

in silent disapproval

The Orchestra Tunes Up

discordant tones merge into

one seamless melody, the

pitching strains

woven together tightly, stitches

in a jumper, head pushed through

the neckhole as if being

born again, hair askew, tempest

tossed as if blown by sea

winds, the melodies borne

along by night air, buffeted

and shaped by darkening clouds,

rough to make smooth

Herringbone Dyed and Spun

flecked with the colors of seafoam and

darkening skies, herringbone dyed and spun,

capacious pockets that held

sweets, before they were scattered, like

rain, for grandchildren to find (what wonders that

coat held) redolent of pipe smoke twisting

up on chill afternoons, fragrant-sweet,

blue furled up to cloud-thick skies.

buttons, like eyes, glint, a

winking as he walked the miles to town, hard

to keep up with his long stride, though

they did their best,

fabric tightly woven, stamped with orb

and cross, edges bound fast,

shield against cold and damp,

surely magical, even in frightening the

scavengers of the field, this

scarecrow in his Sunday best

Mirrored

perched on an indigo banquette in a

mirrored corner, a neat figure

is reflected multiply as

she peers into the oval

of a smoothgold compact, sees the

strangeness, the sleek whorls of

a new coiffure, medusa-like, heavily

lacquered, and jewellery

jangles as she paws through

her handbag for match and

cigarette, inhales, exhales,

looks through the looking-glass

into worlds ever receding away,

distant reflections, so many of

her, so many it tires her,

it tires her,

the same face, the self-same words,

over

may I take your order?

Heel of the Loaf

smeared with clots of

blackcurrant, riven by

silvered flash of butter

knife dragged across

this odd endment, the

heel of the loaf, least

preferred of all, square

of sustenance, staff of

life, give to us our

daily

bread, not the stones

we choke on, or those

beneath thin-soled shoes,

navigating the gravel of a

driveway as the music

dies down, picking steps

carefully in moonlight, belle

of the ball no longer, the

clock gone twelve and

that ancient moon looming down

Billet-doux

bundled into a packet,

ribbon-tied, my worn edges

bump up against some neatly folded

patterned squares of silk

I imagine unfurled,

knotted round her neck,

a thin (but surprisingly warm),

barrier against the cold.

I warmed her, once, on the

coldest days she endured, her

eyes alight as they traced

each word, whispering them

aloud so that I, too, could

hear them, the sloping scripts,

the twists and curlicues in

black on white as ink

on snow and my words wait,

for her,

forever

Golden Apples

three golden apples gleaming

on their silver bough

weigh him down, lighter, still,

than his usual, worldly burden

gods or men, the

tasks set to us are

to be completed, even

as we fly straight for the sun,

slaughter some beast, or

navigate some pitching sea, you—

tossed, a cork upon

waters thick with trouble—what

can we do, sometimes, except make

burnt offerings of the dinner and

light candles the next day?

Free As A

bird on a wire

chirping cheerily, oh

so cheerily through

the morning routines

espied through her

beadlike eyes glittering

over the yellow ribs

of the bus-tops gliding past

broken branches, the

sedans streaking past the

STOP signs, grinding against

the first frost—

with a free leg and a

fine day

shanks mare into town

Green, In Spite Of

at the edge of the

boneyard

green grows up,

unimpeded

unencouraged except

by occasional rains,

dew damping down those

stringy roots, the

shoots reflecting back

dullness of oxidation, redbrown

as bloodstains

vigorous, thickening, seeking

out the rays of the

sun, spreading out in

rude health, thriving amidst

a steady decrepitude,

breaking down, dying

all around, signage worn

away to a tracing, sun-

bleached

Turn the Page

turn the page and there

he is, eternal wunderkind,

all mouth and no trousers, in

a four-color spread tipped into

the Sunday magazine,

declaiming over his collection

of antique silver salad forks, Adonis,

he of the chiseled brow and

blue eyes, head yet unbowed

turn.the.page

here she’s been since

six, juggling those golden apples

in some sort of circus act

approximating life—shot through,

like a Swiss cheese, Peckinpah-

style. she uses the streams to

write everything down, an

undercurrent of voice below the

others, narrator

keeping everything aloft in spite of

(because of?) her increasing

invisibility (her next power) as

she sees all

she hears all

and

writes it all down

Light on Bloodorange

light strains through

a pane onto the

bloodorange, smoothed

wheat colors, sleek grains, sun

magnifying head through

transparency, and we

ants under the curving glass,

enlarged, our mandibles

grasping and reflexing over

crumbs, watching the play of

shadows (while

one wrenches one of their six legs off and

uses it to beat another,

all the while howling “I

am the most virtuous ant

of all!) grimacing at the

most recent stain upon the

sidewalk, hoisting glasses to

our lips, brushing a spray

of sandy sweet grains from

wood bleached pale

and he calls her by the name of another

and she starts and says—yes,

love comforteth like sunshine

after rain and light

streams

in silent confirmation

Plain Oatmeal Porridge

(Not Oatmeal Deluxe)

half-cup measure old-fashioned

cut oats, one tablespoon of

fine white sugar into the steaming

copper-bottomed pot (one cup water)

splash of milk

stir-STIR-stir,

brisk tines beating through

the thickness of it,

crown with brown

sugar to melt into

puddles of sweet

one once penned

an oatmeal poem—

creating a woman of

the stuff—I have not

his mystical

magic, alas and alack,

with cereal grains

but mine will yet

warm the core, to

be sure a

coarser trick

Mudlarks at Midday

incidental music of cutlery

upon china, we trawl through

our meal, speaking of the

history buried in riverbeds,

thick sediments unearthed by

mudlarks, the particular resonance of

some items, some

words,

reverberating within the

hush of just-afternoon,

white-aproned waiters preparing

for the caterwauling evening

to come, everlastingly arranging glassware

(chink, clink, chink)

each memory an artifact

safely stowed away, a

polished stone, the green jagged

glass, the dagger obscured

by rust, the curved tab from a

fizzy drink, fit to slice a finger

gleam of silverware against

hemstitched squares in the half-light,

condensation beading upon the glass, the

insistent writing upon the world, I,

once was here

A Withering

too soon, too soon, the bloom shrivels

on the bough,

icy breath of winter

sending a chill down

the spine, longing for

the warming green of

long May days entwined, sinuous,

heat of June wreathing

round, the conflagrations

of July compete with

fireflies darting

through the sweet fug of

honeysuckle thick along

the road, fragrance, in memory,

forever, though

the flower withers

What Words, These

what words, these, emblazoned

upon cardstock or upon

muslin, framed and hung

what happy we, what

thankful we, holding

hands beneath garlanded

tables, unseen, surprised

by joy, shocked at that

this world may yet reveal

In Every End

in every end some

beginning, the boots forced

across the threshold,

hayfoot, strawfoot, all

the way into town, the

trees receding behind

one until, in caverns

of brick and cement

an end plonked on

a chair, better to

survey the scene while

coffee-drinking,

words thrust through the

air as arrows, some

missing their target

entirely. No matter.

in the end what will

remain of us except the

rapid-fire of synapses, one

after the other, an endless

looping of recollection

Signs and Visions

2019-06-26T19:10:00.001-07:00

sometimes angels arrive,
unannounced, unbidden, enunciating
news of signs and visions,
weighty as the gold chain
sewed within the hem of
a skirt of palest lavender knit from
fine wool that, nonetheless, goes
swoooooosh, billowed out
by a wind gust while
traversing some orderly midtown avenue,
swallowed by grey and glass,
goldleaf safely beyond
the reach of sticky
fingerprints, the small, still
voice of the divine heard in spite
of the grinding of tires upon
grates, metal plates, the
occasional manhole explosion,
the interjections, interruptions, interrogations,
and soot falls like snow
upon her cheeks

Closets

2019-06-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

the truth, predictably, lay
somewhere in the middle, the
jam in the sandwich, his face
reflected in the knifeblade
she used to smooth the
preserve evenly as the feathered ones
sang out their morning chorus, the
sun cracking just below the
horizon, fighting to be seen
through the serried ranks of trees, flocked
out in green, putting on their summer
clothes, the long, lean look of
winter put away, for a time, in
mothballs

what do we hide in our closets, in the
jacket pockets, the stub-ends and fond
failings we repeat, and repeat, the jingles
used to lull ourselves to sleep, stasis
cradled in memory-foam, remembrances
wreathed about our brainpans, the twisted wires
that even sleep will not unentangle?

Mothwings

2019-06-03T04:22:00.000-07:00

mothwings folded into a
matchbox, the transparent
fluttering quelled to the
quiet of a heartbeat, the
galloping quieted for at
least a moment, a
brief respite in which the
birds take over, weaving a
song that falls from
the trees

ever never, never ever,
the black pools open up,
inky, and invite one to
test the temperature, brace
oneself for a taste, to
breach the unknown

ever never, never ever,
heart beats, thick, the
muscle sinewed over with
scars, the striations that
reveal past encroachments
upon that sacred space

pulsing and releasing, the
language in hasty meters,
ever never, never ever,
to breathe again as
once before

Resurrect, 46-Adam

2019-05-30T18:41:00.003-07:00

Back to School

2019-01-27T18:14:00.001-08:00

cooling winds bring a
portent of papers and
bluelined copybooks,
red pencil at the

ready, she hesitates
over his sentences,
diagramming his declarations
until the whole is

broken down into many
parts, each word a pearl
of great price strung
together by semicolons

of gold, commas clarifying
meaning, his intent true
for all time, the starkness
of clouds pressed against blue sky

Practical Hands

2018-01-06T13:48:00.001-08:00

with practical hands

she strips the petals of the artichoke,

braving the thorns to reach the heart

and hope, thinking not of those

evening meals purely disdained, their

very essence a botch-blotch upon florid china,

twice-vitrified, steeled through

fire, furnace hellish, roaring

orange, beating against the bricks, and,

abstracted, she registers the days, dates, she

has had his kiss, a single

column of black digits totted up as she

strips the petals away

to reach the heart, that

green secret of hope and love,

ever springing up, the spear-blade of

grass snaking up between two slates of

pavement, heavy as gravestones, and

she exhales as bleak

November blows coldly into icewhite

December and

forced merriment in a public square

blared over by klaxon horns,

massed crowds braying for a handful

of sweets

so much better, so much tastier, the

secret heart of love at her core,

when all was

finally stripped away,

simmering, as if bathed in the

light of summer, the thick gold she

held in her hands, proffered when

all that was extraneous

had been shorn away,

leaving the heart naked, ready for

the tearing of teeth, the savoring

of scent again, a

marking down of minutes, hours, weeks,

months, years, the curious timetable of

numbers, scripted, catching together, all

a-tangle,

a fine mess of figures, and, in

each one a thought, a pang, a

breath lost, a tear shed, those

sins of omission, venial, that dog

her heels, snapping, unwilling yet to hear

ego te absolvo,

graceless, stateless, a mote of dust

caught for a moment in his glance

before the wind bears her

into the back of beyond,

the eternal that is love, and love

only

too long a sacrifice/

can make a stone of/

the heart/

her heart-stones clink-chink against each other,

making that bright music she rises to

each morning, the cup glancing against the saucer,

the flames reaching up, blue-bright,

under the kettle, warm her face, her

flesh is as many fields, her words a

dowry,

her touch a promise, unspoken still

Prayer

2017-04-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Goddesses of Midnight and Fog--
do not hide me from the God of
Bardship, but let him see me
in my robes of blue and goldenrod,

anxious for words to fete the ever-
turning of the universe, a turning from
dishonesty and indifference, the
time is ripe, indeed, for those syllables

to drop from the boughs of the tree-branches
like fruit into my lap, bruised and
sweet, to feed upon before I journey into
the next world to seek advice from the ancients

protect me from your brothers,
that Trickster and the Vengeful one--
make sure my steps, and fill
my mouth with words for recitation

Above the Fold

2017-04-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

"because I could not answer
you before, because I
could not answer you before
I am calling you now. Are you there?
Are you there?"

"Painkillers? No. Nothing stronger
than aspirin. What's happened,
anyway; I was worried."

scanning headlines, in the silence,
behind the glass a sea of pink
wool, unparted, in spite of
the spouting of alternative facts
she persisted, in spite of
the clatter of night-time raids
punctuated by the glare of torches

"Well, will you have it seen to?
Don't take aspirin; it thins the
blood."

eyes scan the words as
his fall through the wires, those black upon the page,
ink on pale newsprint, another
county heard from, another
cunning stunt reported on,
another breach in the
fabric of humanity, the
threads tearing away as if
perforated by a thousand
thrusting knives, the numbers of the dead
totted up in neat columns

"Use heat, or cold, is it,
to relieve the pain? Heat,
I think, is the thing to try."

fingers blackened by the
smear of the banner
headline, all those headless
bodies in topless bars piling up
while Hizzoner watches his
approval ratings
and she wonders whether it
would be different, now, if
Dewey had defeated Truman

Seasonal Offerings

2016-12-30T10:15:00.003-08:00

Exodus

the exodus of the child into
a foreign land
is not so strange

it happens, every day, though the
faces of the tax collectors and
the soldiers change

the journey, so tiresome and
wearying,
waiting to see which way
the wind blows, depending
upon dreams and visions,

creased heavily with cares,
last-minute luggage packed hastily, but
the baby gifts placed carefully
at the bottom of the case,
redolent of riches, incongruous,
strange, yet predestined

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Seasonal Photograph

the image of you, a year
older, taken in a State park in
the blazing sun is most un-Christmas-like,
though bordered by bells, tinsel, and holly

the green of cactus behind you, the
red of your pocket handkerchief will
have to do, the marking of another
year of lines, told in your visage, of
the ordinary passage of time

balanced by the words of some ancient hymn
of celestial words and promises as
familiar as your intake of breath, the
tapping, impatient, of your fingers, as the
days tick down towards puddings and
roasts, the blank boxes, bereft again of
their silken ribbons, their work done

--------------------------------------------------

Journey

we come, bearing gifts, across
deserts, green-brown patchworks of fields, guided
by those stars we seek out, blazing
away like the fire stoked in the
furnace, warming hearth, and home, and
heart

and we wait, too, for the
cards carrying the annual weather report, proud
robin preening in his gilt border, puffed
out breast a drop of blood against the
snow, (when seen at a distance), scent
of balsam and pine surrounding one,

the ranks of gingerbread soldiers
amassing in air-tight tins, raisin-studded,
crisply brown and fragrant, promising
that Christmas will, indeed, return, as

surely as the clock tolls twelve and the
candles are extinguished only to be
lit again, light piercing through darkness,
needle through the dark cloth in which
we were shrouded

----------------------------------------

Natal Star

His natal star rises still,
Eastwards, beacon-bright, burning
through the fog like a hot
knife through butter cut into
the pudding, fruit-thick, we stirred
and wished upon

and herself only half-done
with the Christmas shopping,
moving, so, from dark into
light, she loops great
strands, twinkling round
her wrists, her reflection tinsel-ribboned

for the Christmas:
baking great cakes of currants
and ginger, fragrant as
the first gifts to
an infant child
smiling upon us after
Adam stumbling and
spilling all those apples
upon the earth

and bang—go the
crackers
and bang—go our
hearts
when we realize
His saving grace

moving from the basement
crawlspace with the boxes,
back into the light,
bearing gifts from their hiding places—
and out of wrapping paper again,
and down to the shops,
and the post office,
and the grocery,
to pile up gifts of grace,
perhaps, for Him

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Angel Voices

these celestial hordes, their angel
voices disturb the air pearl-thick with fog
obscuring distant lights, the glowing orbs
strung, necklace-like, along the dip
and rise of the metal spines of a
distant bridge

while we wrestle with rolls of paper,
order hampers of food and the
first snow, potently mixed with rain,
lashes against the pane, window into
the world beyond

corners squared off by telephone lines,
the demarcation of bordering hedges
overhung with lights boldly emblazoning the
way of that jolly old housebreaker,
stolid redsuited fellow, spreading good
cheer and leaving a trail of crumbs
in his wake, the glasses of milk only half-drunk
in his haste, best of all
houseguests with his wink and his
waddle, father of Christmas forgiving even
the naughtiest of children (so
that no one, ever, receives coal
anymore) given the new benchmarks,
progress reports, and
projections for the next quarter,
everyone given the benefit of all our
doubts,
ripe for self-improvement in six easy steps

---------------------------------------------

Vigil

so the silks and lace rustle,
perfume rising, warm on this
vigil night, the
long lists gone over twice and
twice again, the unlovely long
weeks of January pushed further
from the mind in favor of

this candlelight and the petals of red flowers
in flaming circles bordered by green,
suffused in pinescent, thickribboned,
again, in red and the
organ resounds with familiar
strains and dark is made light again,
night made day and
the gifts are opened with a
snip of the ribbon the
next morning, the carpet littered
with a thickness of paper waded
through like fall leaves, the
scent of breakfast hanging heavy in
the kitchen, the
pot scalded, again, for tea

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Angel Wings

out of the Christmas box she
comes, again wingless, her
angel wings must be glued on,
glued on, glued on, every year for as long
as he can remember, her winsome
red-painted mouth puckered into a
bow, about to bestow a kiss eternally

wings drying, in a safe spot, she
waits for Christmas roses to
bring the bloom to her cheeks again, the
hothouse flowers crowded thick
amongst the lilies and the hyacinth,
not for them the four smooth walls of
a cardboard box—no they are
born to glory only to die and rejoin the
earth, while she stares on, blue-eyed,
golden haired, forever in an attitude
of arrested flight

-------------------------------------------------------

Lights in Winter

lighting the candles we remind ourselves
that the winter is but a long
night and that the heat of
summer, spent basking, like a
lizard, in the sun, will come again
and the green proliferation obscuring the
blue of sky, that too, will return

the miracle of light that
pierces darkness,
the flash of a jeweled brooch piercing a coat,
glinting beneath an electric light, small
suns to remind us of
that largest sun breaking through
the darkness to light our way

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sugared

tinted granules of sugar melt
and harden into pools of
green and red, the colors of the spring we
are promised throughout the
darklong weeks of winter, the
berries bloodred against the
white of snow, the shining snow
glared upon by the sun, the
sacrificial dinner of fat-
slaughtered goose upon the
table, while the sparrows peck
outside the door, hungry for a
few crumbs to drop down from
this heaven of munificence, the
rick-rack of apron twitches, striving always
for perfection, the candy stripes echoing
those embroidered upon
the napkins, quick hands arranging
landscapes of cottonwool and mirror flecked
with iridescent specks, catching the beams from
twinned candles, waxy tapers slim, red, burning bright

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Bird of Dawning

the bird of dawning singeth all
night long and so
rends her rest to pieces,
shattered as the curved
metallic sherds on the carpet
fallen from her hands

reflecting on the
bells tolling twelve
singing, ringing, then
peace in the absence
of sound

needles fall silently, thick
with pinescent, unlovely side
pushed to the wall, garlanded
gold, crowned with a
single star

----------------------------------------------------

So Much……

so much to do that even
an army of elves wouldn’t be
a help, better, so, to do it
on her own—who cares if it
takes all night, or occasions
comment on her listless eyes,
raised, again, at the sight
of the deliverymen, heavy-laden,
striding towards her door and
the hundred undone things unspooling
as the spindle of ribbon loosened and
tumbling down the stairs
tangling, finally, in the cat’s paws,
praying, sometimes, for the
peace of January

-------------------------------------------

A Chara, Mo Chroi

and you said you would be
sorry were the time to come
when my letters would not longer
reach your mailbox

and the annual letter arrives,
white as snow, ivory oblong, heavily stamped,
addressed in chickenscratch,
informing me that the trees,
fallen to some obscure tree-disease, have
been uprooted and, in their place,
new ones, a fast-growing variety, planted
down, black earth tamped thickly around
their roots, a promise of years to come

and now your voice is carried to
me through the howl of wind seeking to
breach the storm door as I wait, endlessly,
and would I could open the door to
receive you in, to jaw over old
landscapes, new-painted, the honeycomb of paths, squared,
we once walked, and this is
my Christmas letter to you, a chara, mo chroi

--------------------------------------------------

Grey Pearl

grey pearl of sky draws
down around earth so
quiet-blanketed in white
footsteps are muffled and
all quiet save for the
occasional scrape of
metal against pavement
shuddering up

shrubbery bearded
in a temporary disguise
of white, icicles hanging from
the eaves a toothy grin
of cold

imperfect fields of green and brown now
perfected white, shine
back, glittering now, under the
sun, eye-blinding bright

---------------------------------------------------------

Blank Copy Books

another blank copy book opens, waiting
to be filled with copperplate
resolutions (before we’ve lost
everything but a stub of a pencil and
the back of an old envelope, only
slightly torn) and the rosy glow of
New Year’s dinner not yet worn off and
perhaps a freshclean blanket of snow
mirroring your newmade soul and
for at least one moment
all seems possible, and, maybe,
even likely

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beneath the Constellations

beneath the constellations
bells are ringing, bells are ringing

beneath the starry skies
we are singing, we are singing

of that night so long ago,
of those words threading through

this tapestry of night, blue-
dark, lit by that singular star of

fire, heralded by
an angel choir

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tangle-Thick

this tangle-thick of corded
lights confound one, yet we
persist, determined to
light the way of others
with garlands of red and
green and white-hot
illumination, pale cousins
of those new suns perpetually
being born

while deliverymen come, bearing
gifts, to the door

and the sphinx still stares,
impassive, across Egyptian sands,
under the thronging stars

-----------------------------------------------------------

New Year

the song resounds: another year
done, another yet to begin

the muddied pages of the
desk diaries changed for new

the scrawls of March and
April as indecipherable as

Sanskrit to your tired eyes, the
days slipped by too fast, tied

up now with ribbons and good
intentions, the slipknots wound

round the needles, fashioning a
new garment for a new year

when all
shall be
in abundance

-------------------------------------------------------

Burning Daylight

burning daylight with those
ordinary tasks after the season
has expired and all is quiet:

jewel-bright ornaments, small
mirrors, placed back in their
boxes, egg-fragile, shimmering

crimson, gold, eggplant-purple, back to
the attic they go, their
service done for another year,

each burnished with a thick
layer of memory, of that year or
another, touched with tender hands,
supremest care

------------------------------------------------------------------

Our Song, Now Done

and now that our song is
done
birds throng on the
boughs
angels stir the air
and
all will be merry
though the chill winds
blow
a fire leaps up
licking the coals
banishing sorrows

In Light

2016-10-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

to awaken, finally, from a long sleep
and see the dawn, at a
distance, rosy, the small green
plants forcing their way up between the
paving stones, obstinate and unyielding

then shake the ashes from your wings, a
sparrow, if not a phoenix, quick and
finely feathered, escaping that
series of cages, stairwells,
sinkholes

to soar, free of your fetters,
each journey starting but with one
step, hardest in the bleak morning
after the music has stopped, the
reverberation turned to a death
rattle, to turn away, then, and
the floor, still unsteady beneath your feet,
set your own course, being careful, of
course, to skirt the sun

lift off is the tricky part, the view from
the summit, though, is worth the wait,
greeted as an old friend, bereft of
you for so long, the light of
life in your eyes again

see the stars, strung out like
diamonds against the sky?
each one is a wish. make those wishes yours.

In Darkness

2016-10-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

falling into the arms of sleep as
she once did yours, the cold clasp
of Morpheus quieting her feverish
thoughts until she hears that
click in her head that makes
all go still. The words stop.
the crack of ice floes in amber,
held in her hand, the blur of neon
across her eyes--she shakes her
bottles like castanets and
keeps time to the music--she
won't let you in--it is
all hers, winding, snakelike, sinuous,
around her brainpan, and the
needle-pricks spell out, in swollen
flesh, help me, help,
me
my mother, my father, the silver
spoon you gave me is blackened, flattened
with this disease of mine
that sickens me so, the
desire that plays along my heartstrings,
veins a conduit for rivers of
poison, this dark desire suffocating
every suffering moment
and still I shake my castanets,
count out the tablets like words
of love, yes, yes, yes, my little
my lovely ones, pale moons clattering away in your hollow music,
the sound ever receding

a finger points to the lines
written in the sky: I have
died a hundred times or more, it is
an art, like anything else; I
do it so well, with the thick
finality finally muffling my words,
closing off my mouth for all time

Cloistered

2016-06-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

from pools of ink-black
coffee in anonymous
office buildings piercing the
sky, some words are
written during a lunch hour,
then some more, and
some more, savoring of
the street, and music,
and the tenor of the
times and having a
Coke with you I do
not think of statuary,
but of a kiss stolen
in the Cloisters, next
to the quiet tomb of
some great lady, her
solemn face in
perpetual repose, her
husband close by

away from the din of
the city, where the
steel pierces the
clouds, accepts
his kiss, for better
or for worse, as
well him as another

Noontime

2016-06-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

the open skies look
down upon the patchwork
of green, brown, black
ribbons of road newly
dug, ever expanding
veins to tap fields thick
with wheat, alfalfa, corn

the bounty of all that
springs up here, the land
arable, the water pure
still, and the song of the
birds clearly
heard, the dawn chorus
a prompting to the day's
labor

the land grown over with
simple spires and towers, pointing
heavenwards, the weathervane
spinning to show what way
the wind goes

and generations are born
and die
and still the lilac by
the dooryard blooms,
redolent of the promise
of spring, and, as we
tend to the land, so
she relinquishes her bounty

Upon Arrival

2016-06-14T19:55:00.001-07:00

setting foot upon a
foreign shore, black
clad, starting the
work of taming an
unruly land, resolute, unsparing

the stones dug out for
fences, the land marked
out in acres, trees crowning
mountains, green parapets
in this new Eden of
forbidding landscapes,
jagged jewels yet to
be smoothed

in this ever-expanding
America neon often
lights the way now, in
place of the stars the
pocked the sky, beacons
to a better future, with
bread and land for all,
the story still undone, it
goes on, unstoppable

Untitled I, Untitled II, and Untitled III

2016-05-07T17:47:00.001-07:00

UNTITLED I

take me in your arms again as

another spring is born from winter

place your lips on mine and

overhead the birds shall

sing a song fit to break

the heart

furrow-fields, lines straight,

without error, all too ready

for planting, dew-damped, fading

into the distance, a horizon opened up

until infinite, beyond all our poor calculations

how long will it take for the seeds

to sprout? Only a skilled

farmer knows, winking and peeking

at the sun as it rises and sets, other

propitious signs well-known to him, his

visage fairer than any other

and buds burst along the branches,

newly green, tight-folded, waiting

to be plucked

.....................

UNTITLED II

the woman says: do not try

to make me small; I am the

colossus who straddles the earth

and engenders all that is good,

mother of all the world, grown

out of the sea, though no

pillar of salt ground down

to grace your table

no doll to be tucked into

your coatpocket, or a book of matches

struck, one by one, their brightness

lying, extinguished, on the landing,

dimmed forever to a smudge of ash

mother of all, subject to none,

rising above the lines of littered phrases

meant to trammel her in. No. She

eludes these nets of sarcasm, scar-casm,

gleaming ivorygold, sinuous, sailing off

to better waters

...........................

UNTITLED III

do not mourn me when I

am gone. Know that I am

with you yet in every sprig

of green you find beneath your boot

each squawk of birdnoise, each

crack of thunder, flame of lightning,

sudden wind stirring up the leaves to

dance in brittle circles

only tell the bees, so that they will

not decamp from their hives, that I have gone,

and let them know of those who will

voice the customary funereal words,

walking, stiff-suited, noose-tied, in dark

clothes, pinch-shod,

mouthing forced formalities through

the fug of flowers, so distant from

the sweeter noise of buzzing hives

under the summer sun

River

2016-02-16T10:53:00.000-08:00

too big to fail, too
old to trust, the
water sullied by
glowing particulates, threading
thick through the life-blood
of this landscape

and who shall hear her
call, soft through the
night, winding through
the trees, now bare in winter,
waiting for the green garb of
spring?

will it come again?

or shall the rivulets shine,
doubling and redoubling mutations,
reworking our DNA until we are
what?

fault lines and faulty
thinking: a poor pairing
indeed, piercing the ground
with poisoned daggers, killing
the one who bore us

Charnel

2016-02-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

scraping the plates, the
heaped bones into the
charnel of a bin, kitchen
meat-fragrant, redolent of
blood burnt over a steady
flame and she thinks of
him and his dear bones,
that finest of frameworks
and how she (once)
pressed her lips to his

still, there are greens to
be chopped with a blade,
silver steady, pressed
against the board, the
ribbons adorning a blue
bowl, crowning the cool
china like a triumphal
wreath, waiting for a
fine seasoning

as she would season your
brow with kisses, peppering
his cheeks until she was
hungry no more.....

and still, the pitchers to
be filled and the linen
cloths, these winding sheets,
to be pressed and put
away

oh my dear, my darling one,
do not abandon me!

Fairy Tales

2016-02-16T10:41:00.001-08:00

drops--that will not pierce
the skin--pelt the flesh
like pennies against the
wall--a coin toss, the
rolling of bones, all in
life a chance, the
chancers standing on the
corner with their matchbook
manifestos, eyes snapping
like a leather belt around
the ears.

this too
shall pass
shall pass

and all will be light
again, the unnerving glory
of a spring day encapsulated
in a single pill, to be
taken with a glass of
milk

we are good children (or
were, once-upon-a-time)
when we still believed
in happily-ever-after

keeping company with the
kith and kin of the forest,
those familiar gnomish elves
who practice good magic
and reward the
simple and deserving, answering
thick riddles with
common courtesy

Carpet, Electrified

2016-02-16T10:34:00.002-08:00

the boards shake under a
multitude of hooves, a
tremendous trembling of all
about her, the very fibers of
her clothes quiver, the
carpet is electrified, shining
beneath her feet, the
hot coals to walk across,
a straight line makes for
the shortest distance--
moving the clobber of clothes there, here,
there

bend and stoop and move,
move, move. up down, up down,
from black to black and the
mouth, always, looking to be
filled

Sunday

2016-02-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

sit, stand, sit, stand,
kneel.

kneel and count the
colors in the glass bordered
by metal, thick scent and
always the bells, crisp linen,
fluttering bills, the words-words-
words--the smoothness of
wood and glass, the
quiet-cool of marble, the
water daubed crossways, and
then the returning, blinking, molelike,
to the glare of the sun outside,
blinded, but only for a moment

Farmyard

2016-02-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

ah, the bleating and the
bellowing of this season would
fill a zeppelin with hot air to bear
us away from these ill-
tempered contentions, the
rancorous neighing and
pawing of the ground in the
barnyard fit only for
animal tempers, ungoverned,
ungovernable, beribboned and
bewigged, grandly suited in
their suits for our affections,
lapels pin-pricked, noose-tied
red or blue, all this
sound and fury

Poetry Reading - poems written and read at the Kickoff Celebration for Peekskill Open Studios 2015

2015-06-18T09:41:00.001-07:00

Poems originally written for and read at the Kickoff Celebration for Peekskill Open Studios 2015 at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater in Peekskill, NY. 5th June 2015.

So Poetry and Art Walk Hand in Hand

2015-06-05T20:46:00.001-07:00

so--poetry and art walk hand
in hand, each keeping close track
of the time, internal
rhythms ticking away, turning somersaults,
this capering pair

trundling past once shuttered
storefronts now blazing with
music, adorned with tinseled
crosses at the crossroads

they do not rush through the
thrum hum of the traffic--they
take note of the ever changing
composition of the sunset over the river, the
evensong of the birds, metrical and sweet,
dripping honey as the sky darkens to dusk,
then night

using every crayon in the box
to write their manifestos, while the
blades of grass pierce the sky, the
lamb lying down with the lion,
and she asks "what is not
art, when I am with you?"

the china, twice fired, their
roses not yet off the bloom,
shudder, slightly, as poetry
and art, now arm in arm,
tramp past the shop window,
mixing desire with memory thickly
upon their palette, the pages
of their book no longer reproachful in
their blankness

Framed by Light

2015-06-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

framed by light, the lines
graved in his face a studied relief, a
map of all that has been, a hint
of what may be yet

as he (so noisily) hammers out
a new piece of art and
the crickets sing in counterpoint,
our summer chorus

his ranging limbs forming the metal
into the shape he wills, forcing the
detritus of last night's battle into

the shining baby, knife sharpened,
sprung from the slick grey coils ever
tightening and relaxing, directing those

messy digits to sift through the
dross for gleaming gold,
the path lit by fireflies blinking out
their morse code