Friday, July 4, 2025

the best poems


 the best poems

have a purpose

well hidden
from the frontal lobe
a galaxy exposed
in the last few lines
mystery enshrined
in letter, rhyme
the heart -- ghost
in the machine
is the hand that parts
those clouds
that are dreams

Saturday, June 28, 2025

bliss of union (my nephew's wedding)

 veiled kindnesses

from out of a hidden realm

friends and family I have never met

affirm my broken being

the dust that falls from the sculptures

I have chiseled these nearly sixty years

my deceased mother and father

join my gurus

sharing a meal at a table

where 12 disciples honor the bride

 

a young man

                    self-effacing, as the moon…

            takes her hand

the daring of love usurps the night

they dance on the rooftop in the rain

the bliss of union that is an ocean

and we, witnesses and guests

each a single drop

of the selfsame joy

Friday, February 28, 2025

Mr. ATL


wiry, old man, diminutive
with thick spectacles
shouts the specials at ATL
Atlanta airport food court, Section B

I am surprised to find him here
old friend, stately man, aged only a bit
in front of "Fresh Eats", salads and wraps
"Today is a great a day...a GREAT DAY!!"

7 years ago
he was in front of Paschal's chicken
daring us to try the mac and cheese
collard greens

on my way to Sarasota
this time, to visit my parents' grave
I am cheered to find him still at it
all Georgia hospitality, gentle resilience

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

single digits


on night's like this
ice pebbled on my car's windshield
shuffling to put on my gloves
brushing and scraping the glass
I am reminded that the extreme cold
is most beloved of my soul

I read once, composer John Adams
in New England, taking his dog for a walk
the wind chill, negative twenty
a cleansing and a meditation
a hard look within, dog hale and smiling

it's coming
can you feel it like you know it?
you read about it, heard it discussed
not the single digit weather
but the arrival of the ritual fires

burning the dross
cooking the bread
relinquishing the silver
from the dull ore
that has calcified around our hearts

Friday, December 27, 2024

that OCD guy


afire with compulsive prayer
hand brushes hair
every minute or so
an outward expression
of an inward obsession
a man twice-odd
fanatic for God
and the part I forgot
I'm sorry a lot

your song


your song cannot be silenced
it breathes, swimming in its own light
swirls, self-propelled, in a bubble of energy
a power that cannot diminish
born of its own accord
cannot have done otherwise
no song can be silenced

it IS because it must be
it is that it is

Monday, December 23, 2024

outlandish


do dogs have feelings? 

can they understand what we say?

in ways we might not imagine

 

does the wind have words?

are we remiss in not comprehending?

 

even a mountain communicates

when we stand in awe

it has inserted its grandeur

into our thoughts

 

is God in our temples, our churches, our hearts?

is Buddha in photons, and black holes, and quarks?

some things are too outlandish to conceive

the more outlandish

the more I tend to believe