a representative selection from my published books
On White II, Kandinsky, 1923
From Reviving a Dead Priest (translucent books, 2018) :
Impromptu Philosophique
Against the strengthened platitudes of fearI increment my hopes: I lock the scalesOn which I silly stand.
The moon is new the sun is new the skyI think is new each day.The scientists will sayThat time is changing change,But we will see.
Or – changing our minds –We will not watch to seeIf anything is constant, even change –Which does not change our silly changing minds, Which never rest.
The earth is one the truth is now the keyI think is not in thinking WhyAre we to open all the doors we locked?I think the key is not in thinking HowAre we to find a way to be here nowWhen every way that offers leads away?
I think the now is not when all is thought,The same as ever-when is never-now.I think the key is notIn thinking there is no key, there is no key;In thinking there is a key, there is no key:Without a key, there is no silly lock!
The moon is new the sun is new the skyI think is new each day.The scientists will sayThat time is changing change,But we will see.
Or – changing our minds –We will not watch to seeIf anything is constant, even change –Which does not change our silly changing minds, Which never rest.
The earth is one the truth is now the keyI think is not in thinking WhyAre we to open all the doors we locked?I think the key is not in thinking HowAre we to find a way to be here nowWhen every way that offers leads away?
I think the now is not when all is thought,The same as ever-when is never-now.I think the key is notIn thinking there is no key, there is no key;In thinking there is a key, there is no key:Without a key, there is no silly lock!
From I Grew These Hueless Clouds in the Dreary South (translucent books, 2017) :
Free Dance on a March Tune
I will go singing over the hills at morningAs the sun is rising I will go,Dancing in that crystal light,Singing low.When the others are all asleepI will leave them sleeping, and goDancing to the tune of spring’s new dawn.I will slip through the silent streetsWhen no one is about, no one awake.I will go running through the quiet streets,Laughing inwardly –Laughing with my eyes, with my hands, with my legs –With my strong legs running, swiftly, quietly –With my eyes full of sky, birds, clouds, morning, sun...As the city dissolves from my eyes,Washed away like crust that crumbles and falls –As I wake up and go out into the dawning,I will leave the old behind,Dancing free to the tune of life’s new dawn!
From The Adventures of Franco Corelli (translucent books, 2017) :
Lines From Memory
Suddenly, just by my ear, It was a lover and his lass;Carrying between them an awesome load --a collection of antique glass.
On arriving at the top of the hill,There was no view beyond the woods(It would have been but a glance):I pressed on to the station
If the heart of a man is depress'd with cares,Aspiring to have a mind,Pray you now, forget and forgiveRise in the heart, and gather in the eyesGreet the unseen with cheer --With a hip-hi-yeh! and a ho-hey-ho!Most musical! Most melancholy!
From The Lighthouse Above the Graveyard by John Thomas Allen and Alan Gullette (Dark Green Sun Press, 2016) :
I Carved the Oldsmobile
I carved the Oldsmobile out of the underbrush and vinesAnd fired it up like a new kiln on Christmas morningBaking shiny new hubcaps and chrome sidingPorcelain headlamps and a sugar windshield
Captain of the untamed road with the wind blowingMy mind a fresh sheet of aluminum foil Capturing every dint and wrinkle
Out to the end of FridayWhere parachute party-favors slow my progressSo I shift the transverse axis out of gregarious gearAnd steer clear for Tomorrow
The Bridge to Eternity came up effing fastI was in the wrong lane but soon foundIt was all a big cloverleaf.
From Intimations of Unreality (Hippocampus Press, 2012) :
Stripped to the Bone
I was born naked into the bright light,Hung upside-down by the ankles and whipped by my caregiverUntil I choked and cried with open eyes –“I am stripped to the bone.”
I sat before the television for years,Eyes bared to the scenes of horror and ceremonyUntil I cried with anguish and ripped off my clothes –“I am stripped to the bone.”
I worked for twenty years with eyes glued to the tube,Bathed in cathode rays, awash with 1s and 0s,With dollar signs dangled before my burning eyes –“I am stripped to the bone.”
I read the Buddha, turned my face to the wall,Listened to the silence – until I heard the beating heartAnd the mind ran screaming, clinging to a silver thread –“I am stripped to the bone.”
With empty eyes I beheld our leaders lie without disguiseLeading by misleading, marching millions into the fireUntil I beheld the nature of the furnace and its function –"I am stripped to the bone.”
With heart and brain afire I decry with rage and fear and shameThe inhumanity that man has done to man and woman – in my name!At last the poet himself shall fall, defeated by ignorance and time –"I am stripped to the bone.”
Against imagined armies and the realProud soldier takes up arms and aimsCasts caution to the wind he takes wing
“Even if you tear me limb from limb“I shall give my life for Life – not Death –“For I am stripped to the bone.”
I sat before the television for years,Eyes bared to the scenes of horror and ceremonyUntil I cried with anguish and ripped off my clothes –“I am stripped to the bone.”
I worked for twenty years with eyes glued to the tube,Bathed in cathode rays, awash with 1s and 0s,With dollar signs dangled before my burning eyes –“I am stripped to the bone.”
I read the Buddha, turned my face to the wall,Listened to the silence – until I heard the beating heartAnd the mind ran screaming, clinging to a silver thread –“I am stripped to the bone.”
With empty eyes I beheld our leaders lie without disguiseLeading by misleading, marching millions into the fireUntil I beheld the nature of the furnace and its function –"I am stripped to the bone.”
With heart and brain afire I decry with rage and fear and shameThe inhumanity that man has done to man and woman – in my name!At last the poet himself shall fall, defeated by ignorance and time –"I am stripped to the bone.”
Against imagined armies and the realProud soldier takes up arms and aimsCasts caution to the wind he takes wing
“Even if you tear me limb from limb“I shall give my life for Life – not Death –“For I am stripped to the bone.”
from Footnotes to the Obvious (2023) :
The Door Stood Open
The door stood open.I stood there staring.There was Anywhere to goAnd Anything was possible.
Something happens right before usThat is totally beyond all conception.It totally blows your mind!Dumbfounded, we learn to act casualAs if nothing were happening.
The door stands open.I stand here staring.
Something happens right before usThat is totally beyond all conception.It totally blows your mind!Dumbfounded, we learn to act casualAs if nothing were happening.
The door stands open.I stand here staring.
from Another Eucharist (1995) :
Walking Mirrors
The rain washed the streets clean.I walked with a clear mind that reflected everything—A walking mirror, I surveyed the city.
I met her on the corner, looking in a bookstore window.Finding her, I found I was looking for someone to walk with.Her reflection shimmered in the windowI reflected on its beauty.
Together we walked in the falling mist— one glimmering avenue and another—We walked arm in arm, with open eyes Reflecting each other,Walking mirrors of the day.
I met her on the corner, looking in a bookstore window.Finding her, I found I was looking for someone to walk with.Her reflection shimmered in the windowI reflected on its beauty.
Together we walked in the falling mist— one glimmering avenue and another—We walked arm in arm, with open eyes Reflecting each other,Walking mirrors of the day.
from From a Safe Distance (2000) :
Fabric of the Everyday
Pulling a loose thread unravels the fabric of the everyday —Everything starts coming apart, collapses to the groundThe ground itself gives way and falls spinning into the voidWhich churns and grinds away into the dust of mere nothingWhat can love do in the face of this whole collapse?Falling bodies attract and repel,Kiss and rebound, rappel off the face of a cliff —the cliff of the broken ground, the cliff of descentTwo bodies are drawn, cling togetherStabilize one other as they fallAs everything sweeps by they have a momentTo look in each other’s eyesIt almost makes senseThrough the vortex of falling, grasping, clingingHolding on to things and letting goThey propagate and more bodies are fallingEveryday