The Would Be Poet

Say

2011-11-27T11:38:00.002-05:00

The things I shouldn't

I won't

and

what I will

must wait

until my mind is steady

and reconciled

to wisdom

Vocabulary of desire

2011-11-27T11:34:00.002-05:00

Time it was

my mouth was

full

of the things

I wanted

now my

vocabulary of desire

has dwindled

to one word

you

Early

2011-05-03T12:09:00.002-04:00

It's dark morning
maybe the
birds are stirring
and you will leave
again
today
the sheets are loose
your arm heavy
on my hip
and now I know
the sweetness
of the sorrow

in absentia

2011-05-03T12:06:00.003-04:00

My mind will dig a hole
to China
I'll come find you there
hot and humid
it works that way
in dreams

haiku

2011-02-11T12:14:00.001-05:00

his little cold feet
tucked in against my backside
he laughs in his sleep

Relentless

2011-02-09T17:10:00.002-05:00

Relentless
it is
was
most likely shall be
and although
I cannot deaf my ears
nor blind my eyes
to your drone
your glaring perseverance
I can turn
on my heels
swift
and elegant
my face lifted
to the sounds and sights
of my self

haiku

2011-02-09T17:09:00.001-05:00

it's a pretty snow
slipping soundlessly from trees
to land on my head

haiku

2011-02-05T22:22:00.001-05:00

wisp of a birch tree
white out of white standing tall
leaning on the cold

haiku

2011-02-04T12:40:00.002-05:00

at last I come home
the brilliant path banked and smooth
with you at its end

haiku

2011-02-02T21:05:00.000-05:00

the storm has its plan
whiting out a sense of time
blizzarding my view

haiku

2011-02-01T12:45:00.001-05:00

searching the whiteness
where are you my little one?
the snow banks too high

Etymology of a kiss

2010-09-18T22:12:00.002-04:00

You will not
translate this
nor find its latin
root

beyond time
beyond my mind
its meaning lives
unspoken
borne on breath
your breath
in my now
listening mouth

are my lips become ears?

this is the perfectly conjugated
verb
of love

Tandem beat

2010-09-18T22:01:00.003-04:00

I'll rest my heart
here
in the place
you make soft
and safe

it will expand
with ease
and reclaim
its even beating

leaving behind
an epoch of
percussive
improv

its rhythm simplified
by yours

Plain

2010-09-08T22:48:00.002-04:00

My words need be plain
as simple
as your hand
against my cheek

they trust you
in the dark
night of summer's end

upending
my nuanced
overwrought frets
with honesty

Golden moon

2010-06-21T23:33:00.003-04:00

The long day

kept its pace

a step ahead

of mine

now it slows

its stride

when my son

advises me

to look

for the golden moon

The would be poet

2010-03-20T15:07:00.002-04:00

The poet's heart
is always breaking
for you
for nothing at all

unintended melancholy
lands best on the page
unpunctuated
or poorly at least

a cryptic nod
to what she
dare not say out loud

Sugar house

2010-03-20T15:05:00.003-04:00

Been taking
the long way home
along these fields
and the stone walls
lined with maples

mostly
to see the sap buckets
nestled
wearing
their pointed caps

trees run sap
like I run love

fast
abundant
inevitable

just take me
to the sugar house
and boil me sweet

Rancher's wedding

2010-03-20T15:00:00.003-04:00

I try not
to think
of you not
with me
when they
promise and vow
try not
to miss
your hand at my waist

instead
I'll let
some rich cowboy
pull me
across the floor
maybe later
run his fingers
up my skirt

and all the while
I'll think it's you

Bracken

2010-02-24T21:48:00.002-05:00

At first
sweet fiddleheads
we gathered
in our spring

now rampant
across the forest floor
where I find you
feasting
toxic

and you turn
on me
a righteous
mouth of poison

Call me your moth

2010-02-24T21:20:00.002-05:00

Call me your moth
your winged beauty
of dark

fluttering

now battering
at the light

your uncertain hands
tracing the window

where you invited me
and leave a pane between

Make haste

2010-01-01T20:13:00.005-05:00

Make haste
to your best living
fleet
brave
and sure footed
the breath
of your pure mind
spurring you on
over the underbrush
that once
troubled you
grabbed your ankles
and tangled your
intent

Settle me swiftly

2009-12-21T21:16:00.004-05:00

Settle me swiftly
like snow come down
in a quiet hurry
muting
my thoughtless
thinking
into bliss

Risk

2009-10-18T15:53:00.001-04:00

If I speak plainly

even
in the tiniest
of whispered whispers

will I risk
another bruising?

Maestro

2009-10-18T15:52:00.003-04:00

You
most constant
man

allowing
every fickle
feisty breath
of mine its place

leaving me
needing nothing
and wanting
it all

haiku

2009-10-18T15:51:00.001-04:00

glancing at the field
my breath catches at the sight
of frosted milkweed

Lonely mind

2009-10-18T15:48:00.002-04:00

Lonely mind
stilled
in a lonely day

where I can not
explain
my loving

nor care to

so
it sits me down
and tells me
to stop
apologizing

for a heart
compelled to lead
my living
in my loving

Then comes morning

2009-09-18T17:32:00.002-04:00

Then comes morning
dream laden
and trustworthy
the cradle
of vision
where a fettered mind
soothes itself
in eastern light
my head
pillowed
by mercy

Willard Pond

2009-09-18T17:18:00.003-04:00

Swimming
towards the center
alone

with the cool
of the pond
between my legs

I turn
my floating paleness
into the hold
of the deepest
clearest
water I know

breasts high
ears full of echo
while you
and the mountain
stand by

my clothes
in a worried heap

haiku

2009-08-23T13:20:00.000-04:00

never too much rain
even the sun understands
my watery way

Shining eyes

2009-08-23T13:07:00.002-04:00

Shining eyes
hold me here
dispelling
a number of myths
with promise
with peace
reflecting
my own possibility

haiku

2009-08-07T08:26:00.001-04:00

silk on skin and off
when the morning has her way
I have mine with you

Makes me think

2009-08-07T08:25:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure
what it is
you said
what it is
you did
that makes me think
you want
to kiss my neck
smooth your lips
along the uneven curve
of my once fractured
collarbone
my eyes closed
to the distraction
of a second thought

Constellations

2009-08-04T22:45:00.001-04:00

For an hour
(at least)
you make
constellations
of my freckles
tracing with
the finest
hand I've known
and naming them
with kisses

Today

2009-08-04T22:41:00.002-04:00

Not a lot of poetry
on a day like this
more the sky
and the water
than words

more the easy sun
behind your head
and the cool
depth of the lake
wrapped up around

like your arms
wrapped up around
in these sandy sheets
where you love me

Hokusai

2009-08-02T16:45:00.001-04:00

I should live
at water's
edge
oceanic fury
and tidal
undulation
to keep me
in my place

Debt

2009-08-02T16:43:00.001-04:00

When did I
become a liability
to my happiness
a problem
in the scope
of love
and living big
who named
volatility
a debt
against
acceptance
and why
did I
nod consent?

Reason

2009-07-04T16:52:00.002-04:00

Reason
reasons not
with love
and is best
left
to its own devices

battling for
apology
where none can serve

the heart
she knows a thing
or two
and makes
no sad defense

but holds the center
letting go
the tethers
of a mind bound
by fear

Impossible

2009-05-05T21:55:00.002-04:00

Impossible loneliness
sticks me hard
to this chair

maybe I can
slip my solitude
inside the sound
of your singing

let it wait
there
a little

a harmony
to keep it
company
when I fail
to bear it
well

Desert

2009-05-05T21:53:00.001-04:00

Stopped
in a desert of time
my hand
incompetent visor
to the glare
illuminating
nothing

my only hope
is to wait
for a night sky
with stars aplenty

Rachael

2009-05-05T21:51:00.003-04:00

I looked
out and
could only
see the
memory of
your dead
daughter
hovering
around your
shoulders
as you
raked the
leaves
left to mulch

Edges

2009-04-29T22:31:00.004-04:00

You would think
what with
the dull
worn
surfaces
of my living
there might
be no edge to smooth

but it's a rough
new grain
I wear
in places
with an
unbecoming
inclination
to chafe

only the
firmest hand
calms
the frayed
and splintered
places
coaxes them
strong

Anne

2009-04-25T15:41:00.002-04:00

Bearing witness
to your isolation
to your grieving
and exhaustion

I take
your story
with me now

my hand 'round
its shoulder
leading it away
on a little promenade
while you
sit and
catch your breath
catch your mind
and quiet it

slipping into
a whole sleep
divine
and redemptive

25

2009-04-17T07:33:00.006-04:00

At 25
I took a left
on toward misery
a hard
dusty left
on a dry dirt road
with no rain in sight
leaving my
wild child
self
behind
with her
heart faltering
for a man
she couldn't have

so I walked
straight
like an Iowa road
and picked a man
I could have
too easily
so long as
I never mentioned
her
waiting
at the side of the road
a hundred miles back

thing is
I kept turning left
and left
and left again
right round
to the wild child
who's now walking
on with me
in the pouring rain
loving me
better than
some man

Reed

2009-04-12T20:53:00.001-04:00

The quiet
he brings
unbends my worry
pulls it supple
like a reed
and shows
me the hollow
inner
tunnel
to fill with
a million
whispers of bliss

Doubt Child

2009-04-12T20:50:00.002-04:00

Ill mannered
doubt
clambers around
pulling
open drawers
recently tidied
tossing
intimate finery
marking
silk and lace
with greasy fingers
jumping on
the bed
until she wears
herself out
and I tuck
her in

flushed and spent
she sleeps
the night

I launder
her havoc
then wake her
softly
comb the
wild tresses
into a crown of
hope
and send her
on her way

Beloved

2009-03-27T20:42:00.002-04:00

What will I write
with the spaces of my
heart filled in?

Can I spell you joy?

when sorrow leaves
there is not so much to say
not such a point to make

more the listening
the seeing
the knowing
the steady walk
of the beloved

Run

2009-03-20T20:35:00.001-04:00

Facing west
alone
I want
to follow
the sky
to out pace
the sun
running
fiercely
to my life

Sit

2009-03-16T22:23:00.001-04:00

Sit
with the sad
and the strange
disincline
to refuse
the tumult
of any
of all

observe
and sigh purely
each longing
each grief
unhindered

Clearing

2009-03-08T19:19:00.003-04:00

Clearings
are few
and short
of vista at
that

bound
by stone walls
and crowds
of white pine

in my mind
I've felled them all
and stepped up on
the wall

open sky
and endless view
my new breath

Unload

2009-02-28T13:41:00.003-05:00

Unloading misery
and not
too gracefully

I'm mostly glad
to see it go
unwelcomed
demanding
guest it has been

prepared that
loneliness
may take its stead
I turn and find
you waiting

Shadows

2009-02-28T13:27:00.002-05:00

My words
are shadows
of their meanings
distorted
by passing
time
and season

falling
short
they fall
strangely long
and sometimes
faring best
behind the clouds
of my intention

words
are what
I offer you
hold them to
the sun
and follow
where they
touch the ground

the ground
where I stand
loving you

haiku

2009-02-19T09:13:00.001-05:00

come soften the blow
whitest morning to quiet
this aching of heart

Desire

2009-02-17T18:30:00.003-05:00

I wake desirous
as I ever have
as I have
since knowing
life was mine
to live

my desire
sustains
the search for one
pair of ears
to understand
my meaning

my gently
exhaled breath
the only explanation

haiku

2009-02-15T14:36:00.001-05:00

winter sky his guide
my man finds his lonely way
walking home to me

Harvest

2009-02-15T14:35:00.001-05:00

My harvest of apologies
cannot feed
a soul

nor a sole woman
whose
life it is
to weep plenty
and love even more

haiku

2009-02-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

my mind is quiet
culling only the beauty
of my lonely day

Contoocook

2009-02-14T13:44:00.003-05:00

This river
flowing north
against all
common sense

bearing every
desire
of you with it
to the place
I can not see

haiku

2009-02-12T21:36:00.001-05:00

swollen cracking roads
the breast of the earth heaving
pushing on to spring

Night Walk

2009-02-11T21:41:00.003-05:00

Accustomed
to finding my
own way

my breath
catches

I was not
expecting
company

take my hand
in the dark
most welcomed
one

Melody

2009-02-10T20:22:00.003-05:00

The angels
are pulling
it together

a jam
on my heartstrings
instead of
seraph's harps

it's a big tune
with a big sound
and soon
I'm singing along
because
god's voice
made my own

haiku

2009-02-09T22:20:00.001-05:00

all day the sun crowns
a sky whose veiled endless arc
will ease the full moon

Inventory

2009-02-08T18:34:00.002-05:00

Take a little space
a little time

step wide
and step soft

look round
at the inventory
of my heart

really now
just nudge
it all down
let it loose
from shelves
and cartons

spill it
muddle it
and leave
the door open

Vow

2009-02-07T22:58:00.002-05:00

Blind sided
and a little rattled
at the prospect
of your leaving

its permanence

I lose my footing
and all sense
of direction
time
equilibrium

vowing to never squander love

haiku

2009-02-06T18:55:00.003-05:00

wind whipping my hair
my tresses in an uproar
only you can calm

Window

2009-02-05T16:01:00.003-05:00

The possible
comes in little waves
and frissons
of what
will be

not a dream
not a wish
not a hope

more a flash
of vision
through my
newly windowed
heart

haiku

2009-02-04T10:41:00.002-05:00

in the whitest field
pull the mitten from my hand
my palm to your mouth

Landing

2009-02-03T15:32:00.002-05:00

Coming in
for a soft
landing

a cushioned
place
amidst the
shards
of living

the unspoken
sorrowing breath
exhaled
into
the softest
embrace

Houseboat

2009-02-02T21:49:00.002-05:00

I dug a channel
with the
clarity of
my mind

a canal
wide
deep
calm

the water
of my life
lapping
its tree lined
banks

so now
I must build
my careful
vessel
a houseboat
of authentic passion
with ballast
enough
and steady on

Voce

2009-02-01T19:06:00.003-05:00

My mind unbends
at the sound

a supple
tone and
open

that lets me slip
into the resonating
interval

Alabaster

2009-01-26T09:35:00.004-05:00

Have you been waiting
waiting this whole time
for me to shrug off
this cloak of indifference
with its hood of
compromise?

well there it
lies in the corner
pooled in folds
and empty

leave it there

I will stand
before you

the alabaster
softness of my skin
luminous
with love

Step through

2009-01-25T22:45:00.003-05:00

Quiet comes the winter
when sorrows heavy lie
compressed
then iced
in banks against
the windows of your memory

until the morning
you step through
to some new sensibility
and know
the snow is your forgiveness

Big day

2009-01-21T16:32:00.001-05:00

It's about this bracing day
its uncompromising clarity
and willingness to take me on
with a depth of cold
and brilliance of sky
outreaching me
gently mocking me
and my apologies

Keys

2009-01-19T21:28:00.001-05:00

See this
your hope for me
and these
your listening ears

I've slipped
them in my bag
today
next to pen and page
and keys
which will surely
unlock them
send them
tumbling out
surrounding me

Pull

2009-01-18T09:26:00.002-05:00

Here we come
pulling our hearts
behind us

making excuses
as we knock
into each other

we'll just pick up our hearts
and press them
into our sternums
soundly

admit
we love
who we love
unfairly

and speed forward
insouciant

letting our hearts pull us

Resolve

2009-01-16T07:39:00.003-05:00

I am resolved
that a constant love
suits me best

the kind
with no
conditions
no fine print

one that
keeps its hand
at the small
of my back
to escort me
through
the open doors
of my life

haiku

2009-01-14T13:49:00.000-05:00

no greedy kisses
but a mouth made bold
with true affection

Melody

2009-01-12T12:10:00.003-05:00

Into the expanding
of my mind
steps the universe
and every passionate
melody ever sung

will you hear me singing?

Linger

2009-01-06T09:23:00.002-05:00

I will linger over this one
peruse its silky pages
and trace its curving font

while you trace the nape of my neck

companion to my searching
companion to my longing

for a
reflection of myself

and when I put it on the shelf
you will take it down again
and press it into my yearning hands
press it into my thirsty heart

Morning Glory

2008-12-26T09:58:00.001-05:00

At the threshold of waking
angels gather me up
to show me the meaning of heaven

its vast stillness
and unending light

the lifted center
of my being
borne on their wings

Spin

2008-12-26T09:54:00.001-05:00

Self lost to self
and all others
lost to me
the misgiving mind
overgrown
and rife
with hopeless worry

you speak dark truth
ever fundamental
ever only whispered
latent and disabling
until you jump down
in with it

and now the catastrophe
of knowing
your divinity is thwarted
keeps you there
far from the nonsense
and the necessary
of every day

what will you choose?
how can you?
your mind spun out
and your heart torn out

I only hope you will stay
stay long enough
to learn to bear it
gracefully

haiku

2008-12-23T06:04:00.000-05:00

iced hard and fast
the lake has no memory
of a warmer day

Say my name

2008-12-23T05:56:00.003-05:00

Say my name again
and stand too close
close enough for me to wonder
if I've misled you

it's true
I've lost my eyes
in your eyes

it's true
I wish to know you well

mind you
it's nothing jealous
mind you
it's nothing risque

as it is
I stay away
letting the gap of possibility
close firmly

Solstice

2008-12-22T00:19:00.002-05:00

It is this most hushed melody
the echoed stillness of my deep mind
which leads me

it is the soft serene
billow of the night
which quiets all but love

Chantilly

2008-11-26T14:23:00.002-05:00

The wild strawberries
at Chantilly
bring me to my knees

I've forgotten the chateau altogether

tempting mouthfuls
and a wink of red
these sweet little kisses in a field

Pockets

2008-11-26T14:18:00.003-05:00

Love has filled my pockets
with heavy coin
I thought to spend on you
in careless fistfuls

even with you gone
I'm rich in this currency
of heart
and spending it on others
find my pockets full again

haiku

2008-10-10T11:27:00.000-04:00

drumming an empty chair
the rain invites no poet
just the yellow leaves

Promise

2008-10-10T11:03:00.002-04:00

I lay no claim on you

a loose steadfastness
watching you come and go

my fidelity rests in your freedom
rests there softly
with no cliche
or myth
no tired convention
or mandate

but with a breathing
tidal
invincible promise
to be here
when you come back

haiku

2008-09-05T08:44:00.000-04:00

wise green of autumn
the rustle of September
folds leaf over leaf

haiku

2008-09-05T08:43:00.000-04:00

one last tomato
waiting its turn
from vine to windowsill

Plans

2008-08-19T11:28:00.003-04:00

I have plans for that mouth of yours

the one that tells me pretty things
and provokes my sense of living

a mouth full of song and poetry
of honesty and sass

I have plans to quiet it
with lips parted against your teeth
and a brush of beard against my cheek

haiku

2008-07-28T22:02:00.000-04:00

first hear the river
swollen full and pushing banks
in steady fury

haiku

2008-07-28T22:00:00.001-04:00

this you can handle
with eyes open to beauty
fear swallowed by truth

haiku

2008-07-27T23:02:00.003-04:00

freckled arm and nose
the sun has found its canvas
hat nor cuff endures

haiku

2008-07-18T20:53:00.001-04:00

the heat of summer
wrapping around my doorstep
sunless at midnight

haiku

2008-07-18T20:51:00.001-04:00

passing through the dunes
a sea breeze stopping only
to kiss the beach plums

Almost

2008-07-14T22:31:00.002-04:00

It is not enough
to have almost loved you
then
my heart retreating
where my mind stepped in

repeating repeating
I didn't know you

didn't know you how?
your sister's names?
the history of your house?

what poor measure
when your whispering eyes told me
the soul of your soul
and my own

Coping

2008-07-14T22:26:00.002-04:00

What became of your sorrow
black as Iowa soil?

misery misery misery

did you bury it too
a stone to hold it down?

well, carry it boldly
an honest scar
revealing the obvious

Haven

2008-07-05T14:41:00.003-04:00

What is that quiet shed I see
beyond the apple trees

whose haven
draped in solitude

where rests a mind contentedly
against the southern window

white climbing trellis
ample company?

haiku

2008-07-01T16:44:00.001-04:00

intending to soothe
your sweet words leave me restless
walking in the rain

Seamless

2008-07-01T16:15:00.004-04:00

What is it about you
that unravels me so?
the thread of my life loosed
and the stays let go

a mind to undress me

I never thought I'd
live a corseted life
laced up
laced in
everything all right
all right

a word to undress me
your word to undress me

holding together my old frock
turning away
before I see you
see me

a look to undress me
your look might undress me

my ample self
spilling out at the seams
a sweet invitation
to waiting dreams

my soul will undress me