Observations
------------------------------- Florescent Lights 1/17/83 No shadows to track. Don't worry about sunset. Clouds don't form, colors won't change, there are no birds. Under florescent lights. Wind doesn't blow, rain doesn't fall. Seasons? Are you kidding? Breathing isn't the same as inspiration. ******* The sun is going down; the dangerous hour. The wisdom of the ages occupies me, but strange hands and feet not mine think otherwise. ******* The Daily Herald One by one, scenes foretold a template for the light. Sleep that comes from deep within has dreamed today to incite. ******* Four flowers in a garden-- two watch for the rising sun, two watch where it took flight. When the sun comes up, four will look toward the light. ******* Resident 8/23/96 I go with none some. I wonder and question. Always with a question answers come. Always with answers, questions come. So this is anomie. And I thought last time was the last time. Who am I? I mean business meaning nothing at all, because getting it right is no longer an option. So I pretend to hide in places that don't exist, meaning, I go with none some, and wonder always, who am I? ******* The vultures came again. This time they were welcomed. Last time they had to tug at the sinew, this time a table was set. The rot from the last round of learning needs scattering far and wide. ******* When clouds part to let the sun in, isn't the same bravery of a clear day. ******* The hollow sky takes form when it blows your house down, or bites a kiss upon your cheek. And yet we would want to be special in other ways. ******* My Radiator Leaks 1/24/90 and I chipped my tooth, my wristwatch broke, I think yesterday, and the table I'm building won't take shellac tomorrow I see a lawyer to divorce my wife but sometimes my car won't start at all its radio only plays in subtitles and I can't pay the rent because I can't find a job the board of education won't certify me because I paid them twice. my kitchen faucet leaks again as I fix it the house is cold I hate Winter dirty dishes in the sink my refrigerator runs constantly but won't freeze a thing my mom died a year ago next month on Valentine's Day a sweetheart she was my feet are cold and tomorrow I see the lawyer to divorce my wife my father never calls but says he loves me and he does today I read Exodus and want to go out and kill a whole country full of people in the name of God but I didn't catch your name tomorrow I buy eleven paperbacks to read one a week to forget my life I broke my shoe I am catapulted into some kind of hopeful convoluted understanding of why all this is happening to me and for a while I actually feel ok while pointing to clear retrospective moment in the future maybe it'll be a year from next month my wife won't call me but says she loves me and she does birds sing outside my window simply eating seeds a warm mist rises up effortlessly from the melting snow inside my dogs snore sweet dreams in synch with the drone of the refrigerator and drip of the faucet whose handles I replaced backwards and now after years of turning in one direction I must forget to remember and turn in another. My life is perfecting my life. ******* For Curtis Mayfield 12/27/99 I don't want a country, I want a family of friends. I don't want to be number one, I want to be wonderful. I don't want to be the hippest, I want to be wise. I don't want the big bucks, I want to play it fair. I don't want your yard, I want the lines erased. I don't want to be the strongest, I want to be the most caring. I don't want to use the earth, I want to connect to it. I don't want you to think like me, I want liberty. ******* |
Observations
------------------------------- Waiting on Contact 7/27/00 Give thanks for the opportunity to practice being your best. A hesitation in time leaves room to perfect ourselves; the groundworks place: to clean up, to rearrange, to prioritize. To make contact. ******* She said she would love me till death. She kept her word. Now I look to be loved into life, till I burst with joy and die laughing. ******* School Night October 4, 1999 I want to sit down and write a piece for my students but can't, I have to iron my clothes for tomorrow. I'd like to write something special, but I have to make my lunch. And even if I had the time what would I say? Some thoughts about being in the moment? Something about the majesty of their breath? But I need to correct papers and review a tape on poetry. Wasn't there something I wanted to say about their personal power, and how each of them is integral to the entire world? Wasn't there something needing to be said about being works of art in progress that take a whole lifetime to complete and perfect? But I need to put my vitamins out, and set my clock and something else, but I can't remember what. They make me laugh even when they're not around. But it's the look in their eyes when they're learning... Now that's something to write about. ******* 9/1/2000 If we don't make the attempt to be ourselves what kind of trust can we have? How long the solitary hours. Who rages unknown to you in your silence? Teeth gnashing, there isn't a rock big enough to hide under. Need we go on with the pain we've become when joy waits inside too? There's a clear shot there right there before we get in the way. The most real we can be and nothing can block it. ******* A small breath of time a lifetime. Time within time. Being so tiny, what purpose can we serve? Maybe we are a dream in a greater dream. ******* 1/14/01 We shop in the galactic market for what we align with. If everything awaits us, we have a long long journey. If we write long enough can we ever get to the heart of things? ******* 1/9/01 Broken wings, stolen hearts, what was damaged was unknown to both. What was fixed was done to both unknowingly. It wasn't the injury that gave meaning, it was that which took the pain away. ******* Sensitive Unintentional damage. One person's poison... Misunderstandings, broken promises, divergent paths. Sensitivity, one person's poison: a glance, a word. Avoid each other's weaknesses; but who can see rightly? Accept apologies when they come; understand to be understood. ******* A Few Steps 11/1/87 Randolph, Vt. I stepped into the hillside pasture hanging over familiar fields; the cut blonde hay had fallen after the farmer's blade as Winter yields. The line of trees that set the boundary marched straight into the valley near, then turned left toward the road to Chelsea to meet up with a barbed wire tier. A fallen fence follows field to barnside, though the barn keeps the juncture from our sight. I stepped further into the hillside to complete the field from lowered height. Small changes make a difference, like rain carving out a stream; from where I stood I knew it mattered what ground I fixed to view the scene. The horizon towered a little higher the wind gave a gentle shove, a few steps opened another view as beautiful as the one above. Nature doesn't pose forever, our vantage point travels too. Green and brown and gray the valley, blue, white and pink the sky. The lowland comes bounding in Autumn colors, in a few steps I say goodbye. *******. |
Observations
--------------------------- In Memory of Maya Angelou Still here, and the tree in front of the house keeps dropping leaves year after year. My brothers and sisters baked by the sun, and forever pushed by hurricane winds, still keep landing on their black bottoms. No slave ship moving, no cotton. Everything's changed, and nothing's changing, the rope keeps hanging. It's not the words that are written; we have always cried. Let my people go, let them dream, let them be. Still here, and this is how I see it. Don't hold it against me if I say it white, and I won't hold it against you that your color doesn't matter to me. ******* Life on Holiday 8/3/89 We tangle and fumble for a time and take the trip and call it, mine, though we rent the hook, but not the line, to a life to be enjoyed as holiday. ******* Yasgur Farm Revisited 8/19/89 Love and peace, is that the best you can do? What of caring, sharing, compassion? What of sacrifice and devotion? Love and peace, we've been fooled again. Bring me joy and laughter and understanding, and tolerance. Find your love and peace in solitude, but when you're with us bring acceptance. We make living so easy, so slippery. As much as we can help, we are that much saved. L and P the foundation and roots, but live a life of friendship. ******* Fighten Words I'm looking for something serious, but not too serious, to complain about. Just like my parents did; just like they do on tv all the time. You can't like everything you know. Sometimes you have to let it out. Are there any issue words left unused? ******* Hovering, always out of sight, a breath gives spark to all. Here a fire all aglow, inhales each moment's tow. ******* Sun unknown to self, silhouetted still, yet in glory, clear your sight and recognize, you are the morning light. ******* Cold. She took a date to his funeral. ******* Two trees grow together seeming to be one. What can grow, grows. Close and full, roots and bough; a lovers' symmetry. ******* There is a universal law of the wild, a rule, a rhythm, a pulse that moves everything forward. No compromises, no deals. To think otherwise is just plain civilized. ******* Assault The trampled grass lies strangled beneath crippled trees, bony and gray-- see time steal on its deadly way. A tyrant beyond reason the change in the season. ******* To laugh now at what once brought tears, when bad becomes good washed in years. ******* She couldn't find a way to, only from. ******* Real Fate 1971 So fixed we stand within our fate decision won't halt nor hesitate reality the monster that procreates to absorb us with so lightly a blow. Far past the future our choices lead far past the shell of the severed seed, therein a nature of ominous deeds, that we all have to nourish with our living. No matter what road we run from or to, all directions lead us directly to you; one and the same are the many and few, and all are parts of the whole. ******* |