Envoi

and it’s as if they are talking to me

directly without intercession of the page

or the intervening interval of centuries

their voices sharp snide and happy

inviting me into their conversation

like hosts at an ongoing dinner party

here have a drink one of those canapés

with the soused shrimp quite delightful

I assure you come meet this person

and I do and then another and another

quickly as if I’m absorbed in a book

which I am as are you who have read

these words I scribbled down tonight

as if I were talking directly to you

(May 2012)

Silence Creates Consensus

“Hush, little baby, don't say a word.”

so you speak

            as if

what I say

to you

does not

exist

as if

I

do not

exist

as if

I have nothing

to say

because you

do not

want to hear

what

I say

so you say

            shhhh

            silence

            shhhh

            no more

            shhhh

            who are you

            anyway

thus I am silenced

are we in agreement

(May 2012)

Rags

scraps of language

            residual remains

                        like soap film

or

ashy skin

      something still

            to slough off

my students talk the words

            the words

     weave about them

            like rope

looped lazily

            across a tree branch

(May 2012, from Wisp, work in progress)

from Wisps

4.

it takes so little

so little to disturb

my day so little

to fall down and die

I take my troubles

shuffle forward

step back a bit

slip side to side

such indecision

such quandary

again repeated

becomes my dance

a pebble slaps

into the dust

becomes enough

to shape my lust

(May 2012, work in progess)

Wisps

1.

Wisps

like smoke from a cigarette tip

                        his hand on the bar

ice settles in the glass

            he coughs

                        clears his throat

                                    and starts to speak

2.

my clichés clot

            across the veins

                        of my life

my clichés clot

            like spilled blood

                        in the snow

my clichés clot

            my speech

                        with a swollen tongue

my clichés clot

            all with whom I interact

                        everyday every day

my clichés clot

            until my heart

                        thickens in disgust

3. Just Saying

Not that what I have to say is urgent,

or even all that amusing;

but it is what I have to say,

and that becomes my reason to speak,

and that becomes my urgency:

for what I long to say to you

is, amusing enough, all that I can

do to show how much I love you.

(May 2012, work in progress)

Truth Table: as, if, then

an ongoing possibility

a similar proposition

a difference instead

to reinforce our now

as we go along here

a way opens away

close by this time

but still askew to here

if a compliment

lies across the table

as an either/or

or as a truth

to be distracted

then seen as an art

by what’s reflected

tangentially to our heart

A Question of Ritual

she lights candles in hope

she may ignite a passion

a belief in form fulfilling

a desired denouement

yet her solitary act fails

to come to a conclusion

he listens to her confession

her questioned complaint

he wants to take her

in his hand offer his help

yet what succor can he give

what disavowal of his faith

together they play their prescribed part

separate each comes to their own heart

(May 2012)

Three Attempts at Speaking in Tongues

“… in order to translate one must cease to be.”

--Mark Strand           

1.

a metaphor is

a translation

this open hand

a form of words

fossil poems

emerson said

diatoms

to abrade

my soul

a metaphor

for the voice

I translate

me to

you

2.

a figure moves

across a square

head down

troubled by all

the day to

day travails

to a sound

or a thought

his head rises

with the sun

and he’s translated

into himself

3.

he vanished into a story

he told about himself

to others when nervous

or in awkward situations

or when despite his caution

he realized he was in love

for he knew whatever he said

she would only hear what she heard

and he could slip safely between

his simple plot and darker intent

(May 2012)