Canvas 1,236 — June 23, 2019
Why Noah Drank
He still heard them
scratching,
pleading,
beating
on the ark.
Songs and Letters, June 18, 2008
[ 430 ]
Songs and Letters
Changes
The deep voice of a bullfrog — the lilies are so dense, he can cross Goose Lake without touching the water. On the high platform used by the ospreys, the heads of their young can be seen above the edge of their big rugged nest. Three brown rabbits. The cry of a flicker. Fields of daisies. Budding chamomile. In shaded areas, there is one kind of general scent; in sunny […]
Preface to the First Edition
The spirit of a book? The flesh of a man? The book is flesh. The spirit is man. Preface to the First Edition Each time I pick it up, I find this book has changed. So many bends in the road, So many landmarks. Death. Rejuvenation. Bloody thorns and hollow skulls. The whisper of inspired stones. The velvet hush of stars. The crush of tattered ages. Garments torn that […]
Fable Wind
The world ended, but no one told the seed, and it was wild in its imagining. Fable Wind All at once the fable wind came crashing at my door. I let her in upon her well-made horse, a beast with nostril caves and sunrise eyes. They ringing crossed in clatter-prance my rocking ship-deck floor, The wind’s long hair a ripened field of painted flame. Ocean mist caressed her shoulders […]
Abandoned
Not that many days ago, I was nearly finished with my evening walk when, at the foot of a driveway of a house for sale, I was met with a single bark by a shaggy, two-toned spaniel. At the same time, I noticed a man occupied at some task behind, and mostly obscured by, an old white pickup. I greeted the dog and bent down to let it sniff the […]
Canvas 1,179 — Yin and Yang
Yin and Yang I put out the cat; that’s one too many, the night replied. Songs and Letters, March 19, 2008 [ 367 ]
Heaven
When I cut off the old fronds of the ferns, mold is my reward. Later, I celebrate with double and triple sneezes, violent enough to rattle the dishes. In the center of the mound, the new fronds are unfurling, prehistoric, hairy, and willing. I find treasure therein — needles, twigs, and shells; fir and filbert sprouts. The Creeping Jenny is rampant under the white birch. If not trimmed a bit, […]
Together, Alone
Beautiful, singing words — somehow you end up stacked like bricks. “Poet’s Lament” Songs and Letters, October 13, 2008 Together, Alone As deep as a worm, as radical as a plow. May it serve as a proverb for now. A church and its graveyard, at the convergence of roads. A cart ’neath an oak, in the hollow of a palm. A poet with a shovel, near the end of […]
Word of Mouth
Earthquakes, volcanoes, and Man — Too much yeast, God said. “Judgment Day” Songs and Letters, April 25, 2008 Word of Mouth Someone who lives well west of us, in the first row of houses overlooking the river, said that the recent high water rose into her yard, but did not reach her house. When the water receded, it left behind all manner of filth from the homeless encampment that […]
Love Letter to the Universe
A letter arrives which you eagerly answer. But the sender needs no reply. So you turn the words you have written. And you burn them on the other side. Love Letter to the Universe I was going to write this letter a century ago, but I wasn’t born yet, so I didn’t. I had to wait instead. Finally, when my impatience got the best of me, I was born, […]
William Michaelian 