When Morning Comes
A little bit of marble — stout blades of dewy grass — I expect this too — shall pass — to lichen — us. [ 675 ]
The Poem Can See
I cut the grass and it keeps growing, Blade by blade, green and green on green. I cut the dawn. It bleeds and bleeds and bleeds. I cut the man. I kill myself with deeds. I turn to seeds. I sow the grass, I sow the dawn, I sow the man. And they sow me. I sow the poem, blind as blind can be. But the poem can see. The […]
In the Forest Heard
Almost two miles into our walk near Goose Lake, where the path winds around an open field, we saw two coyotes trotting along on the bare ground, their reddish-brown coats gleaming with health in the morning sun. Headed in the direction we were, they paused and looked our way. Then we all rounded the bend, and they set off without urgency on another course, as if they might have been […]
The E Train
“The E Train” is part of a very short-lived series of guitar notes. Now, almost eleven years later, I ask myself — which E string? The low, it appears. Or, Lo! It appears! The E Train Fascinating. The harmonic at the ninth fret can also be played at the sixteenth, and the harmonic at the twelfth fret can be played at the nineteenth. And I’ve learned that if I […]
I fill my lungs with air — feel something strange
in there — akin to childhood — a winding stair that clouds
of dream obscure — or an azure tree of stars — fruit ripe
and sure — of one — last — reckoning
February 18, 2020
Canvas 355 — white on black, February 3, 2014
[ 671 ]
Canvas 355 — In the Lane
Warm, the Flesh, Sweet, the Veil
Noted thus far, very lightly in pencil, near the top of the blank page opposite the Index of First Lines, the poems numbered 435, 712, and 730, beginning, respectively, Much Madness is divinest Sense — I could not stop for Death — Defrauded I a Butterfly — all three of which are old favorites of mine — and yet when I encountered them in my slow but steady progress through […]
Paralyzing Definitions
To have a voice the size of a firefly, with the fleeting effect of a falling star. And then there’s the place where you are, when darkness ripens like a plum. Paralyzing Definitions I met her walking in the woods. It was late fall. We had the trail to ourselves. We were both outfitted for the night, so we set up camp together near a tiny lake just below […]
Found years ago in this vintage tome,
opposite The First Kiss — another heaven, perhaps,
but not a sweeter bliss.
[ 668 ]
Romola, Page 123
Canvas 843 — February 15, 2017
Heaven and Hell
A pebble in a child’s pocket, a feather, a shell.
A child in God’s pocket, a star, a well.
God in a pot on a stove.
Soup in a bowl.
Where is heaven, Master? Where is hell?
And the old man smiled.
I too once asked foolish questions, said he,
And brought his spoon to his mouth.
And when we die, and leave this world?
Maybe when we arrive, we will know.
But for now, I beg of you, please, sit down.
This is better warm, than cold.
Recently Banned Literature, February 15, 2018
[ 667 ]
Canvas 843 — Heaven and Hell
Soliloquy
If my past is a fiction, and my present a dream, my future could be anything. If my past is a dream, and my present its awakening, the future has much to explain — And that much must be little, if it means what it seems. Such is the play. Such is the scene. To write is to be written. To speak is to sing. Where the mind fails, I […]
William Michaelian 