poetry
-
Collections
DARK FLOWERS (Mature poems) ENIGMA — Practice Poems (Athens/UGA, 1976-1982) ONCE — Selected Poems of My Youth (1972-1974) Also see: Medium: Outdoor Poetry
-
Muse is the Antidote
My poetic muse has always been an alter-ego, chastising me for being too much in my head, too cerebral. Looking back over the years I can see that she has presented a more or less consistent message: life is not at heart about my thoughts and feelings. Life is not a mental enterprise. It was…
-
Non-Metaphoric [1974]
When by windstorm the knowledge-theories falland men see how blocks have called them onand tricked them into building mental wallsof symbolic brick, idea-ic mortar, the overallconstructed game of mind that has deprivedmen of non-metaphoric wind outside—then, and not till then, men will come alive.
-
Lake [1974]
the cardinal-floweri saw this morningwhile walking besidea lake i’d seenfor only an hourpressed without warningdeep insideand made me dreamof her lips’ sweet power
-
Night Sprinkle [1974]
The trees set back turn dark and blackagainst the evening skyand cross the way at edge of daysun calls out “good-bye”Now breezes form to keep us warmthroughout the coming nightand bring in shrouds well-hidden cloudsthat enter from the rightwhile one by one the night stars cometo sprinkle down their lightThey’re followed soon by spacious moon—she…
-
The Lesson [1973]
With every movement and every eager wordshe made me feel how wrong it wasnot to love this simple world.Not to feel that when the trees were swayingI was swaying toothat when the blackbird flocks were soaringbetween the cloudsI was soaring too.
-
Druthers [1973 with later edit]
Not the pretty smile orthe one that lasts the longest orthe one that’s always therenot the gorgeous faceeye-lined and painted best ornecessarily the longest hairnot the beauty queen (who’s just pretend) northe engaged personalitytrotting at the trendand notthe body kept concealedto harbor wounds unhealednor the willingest to yield.But—the unordinary girlwho likes the outdoor lovemade of naked realwho feels before…
-
Fallen [1973]
She touched me.Skin, tanned by moonlightclean like a morning lakesoft like a flowered hillsideShe kissed me.Face, textured by breezeshappy like a bouncing birdthoughtful like fallen leavesShe loved me.Eyes, lit by yellow sunlightcolored like an afternoonmellowed like an evening sun
-
Leaving [1973 with later edit]
Long before the winter camethe branches gave the leaves.September gave the season rainOctober the season breeze.November gave the wet daysthat dripped from grey-black skies.December gave the leaf-bare boughsand the wind that faintly died then the dark and puffy cloudsthat matched the sky for size.Clouds gave the snowthat blanketed the ground.The leaving of the birds gavethe…
-
Once [1973]
Once I wrote a poemthat sounded like the worldI want to live.Once I felt the windbetween the clouds careeningand knew I was at home.Once I had a momentbeneath the autumn apple treeswhen I knew creation was a circusand Godand I were brothers.Once I sipped my lifeas it bubbled over.Now I only know the lingering taste.