This Brown Paper Bag of Peaches
“This Brown Paper Bag of Peaches” (“From Blossoms” by Li-Young Lee) Oh words words how they topple from the tonguesuch fun (like many things this tongue has done)Simple sound saves us is what poetry teacherFrom blossoms come this brown paper bag of peaches. From a rose is a rose to that boat you row rowTo […]
Our First Gods
They were our first Gods With secret shame they breathed us Into a world of water sky Cain and Abel sacrifice Celebrated and disparaged They were our first Gods Prayers not meant to free […]
Thou Shalt Dance
Thou Shalt Dance I walked a bridge – never meant to crossI couldn’t see that it would be any loss Climbed over the rail, the end of my arcReady to sail…then a voice from the dark “Really?” I wanted no witness, I hadn’t foreseen thisNone of his business, an inconvenience I did not move yet I longed […]
The Ken Burns Effect
When he orders a meal, he slowly raises his head The waitress comes into focus quite slowly And when he finally orders, no words are said But there’s a voiceover by Peter Coyote If there were an effect that bore my name Jittery out-of-focus closeup shots The subject drifts in and out of the frame […]
Albert the Kangaroo
Albert was a kangarooWho lived in a zoo in Kalamazoo,Michigan, which is notAustralia OK food, OK viewFriends, furniture OK toobut then again, this was notAustralia One evening he spoke with Joe GiraffeWho told a joke, Al did not laughHe was low could only wonderhow to get over and go down under –Australia Elephant Jack said […]
Beverly Watkins 1930-2019
She liked to tell the story, when she was sixty twoNominated in the category of Best New Artist DebutIf you were a woman of color, pretty sure to bePlaying undercover in obscurity Like Memphis Minnie before and Sister Rosetta TharpeAnd many more who blazed guitar to a wailing harpMisogynist racists kept them out of the […]
October 2019 – RIP
Eighty minutes of light went south of the border Trump thinks “Ya know, if we just had the wall.!!” I fear the night, the right’s righteous disorder But I’m privileged and white and there’s a sale at the mall Indigenous Day Discounts! The deals! For instance Fifty percent off! Shirts from Phnom Penh But I […]
2018
2018 I am an American and reluctantly admit we’re an embarrassment because of that Twit Why can’t I be Paris-from or Belizean or Brit? with no wannabe Erdogan tweeting Holy Writs But I’m a U.S. guy queasily ashamed I can’t deny I was too easily framed Like you, currying favor with complacency While they found […]