fine poetry to turn your world around
Paradise Loop Bicycle Ride in Marin County, CaliforniaMornings are a sustained hymn / without the precision of faith. (Oliver de la Paz)Days on the bay start overcast, the sun must fight its way out of the fog,like thoughts when first waking up. On the Mill Valley path, along the marsh, ribbons of fog mirrored on […]
Norma Jeane ~after Milton Greene’s Marilyn Monroe—Ballerina Sittingpoor Milton—I’ve kept him waitinghe wants me to pose againthey’ve gathered meinto a see-through poof of netting—a kind of tutu—all flounces and fussthe bodice, too small (of course)can’t be zippedI hold it against my breastshe wants Marilyn—and I bring herlips parted—he says, needierand I do that—lifting my browsa […]
Crow at Dawncocks a black pearlto the impending lightfolds his wings over a holein the canopy of treesbinds the fabric of his cloaktighter to the earthcollects the glitter of starsthe barking of dogsthe crawling of grubsthe screams of doomedfowl in his throatwhets his beakalong the scaled branchuntil it is sharpas the wind on the edgeof […]
Elegy for a Pine TreeThe pine stressed by droughtdied last summer. Beetles attacked,bored holes through the bark.Here, in chilly air, its branches shedtheir copper needles. Pointy pompomsdrop from scaly limbs. No spearmint spikesflicker through the winter,but pitch tubes dot the trunk—sticky clusters of popcorn sapthe tree expelled, an attempt to blockthe beetles from the inner […]
