A Rock from the Sky
Impact, shaken as in a toy car, holy
shit. The apprehension of unseen damage.
Seat-belted, breathing deep, curbing hard
and parking. Nothing I could point to, yet.
…
A Possession
Scoured down to the bedrock
once in an ice age or so.
Uplands, a byway. Half collapsed,
a farmhouse, set back from the road.
The crockery of loss, inferred.
…
Der Stimmenimitator
Mediocre writers who pass their entire lives
reading other mediocre writers (he said to me)
read practically nothing else
and for no reason other than to reassure themselves
that mediocre writing is readable,
and therefore worthwhile.
At the End of the Lane
A night breeze rustling the willows.
Whisky has me stargazing,
I try identifying planets,
that’s Venus, nearest, Queen of the Sky.
…
Los Angeles, Again
While passing through, a splurge
without occasion at the Casa Del Mar.
Cocktails by the pool. There, and there,
such women, in their notional outfits,
upwelling in the heart.
…
The Hunter and the Deer
In a certain forest there was a great sage.
Seeing this extraordinary being,
a hunter approached and said,
‘O sage, a deer wounded by my arrow
ran by here. Tell me which way it went.’
…
Stanzas in Winter
Blizzards, thaw, blizzards,
yet all this even-handedness about us,
possibly delusion,
shy of absolutes. Cleft vision.
…
Dame Philosophy
Anicius Boethius wrote De consolatione
in prison, charged with conspiracy.
It’s thought that he was executed not long after,
in Pavia, place of his exile,
circa 524 CE.
…
God’s Factory
After a hurried food court lunch
I loiter at the newsstand,
one of several office workers
who crowd this ledge of day
…
Aladdin’s Problem
It escapes us, the question
concerning technology,
Aladdin’s problem, who couldn’t
get the genie back
down in the lamp. Titanic.
…