Monday, May 31, 2010

May 31st, 2010

absent peices

these days are missing:

april 2, april 16

may 30, 27, may 12 through 21st.

these days were either too good to write down
or too painful to keep track of
or maybe
maybe
a bit of both

Saturday, May 29, 2010

May 29th, 2010

Gary Coleman
Dennis Hopper
and Corey Haim, too.


Lena Horne and
Lynn Redgrave
and PK Page (who?)

Dixie Carter
Art Linklater
and Tiger Wood's career,

when it comes to grieving those we've never met,
it's been a banner year.

Friday, May 28, 2010

May 28th, 2010

driving through the dark trees
looming up on either side of your car
put on the headlights and head towards the deep green woods
and emerge on the other side
into a clearing
a prairie suddenly empty
save the deep pink sunset; a reward
for the miles of wooded darkness
you've just come through

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

May 26th, 2010

i am trying to write a poem
about the involuntariness of love
for a mathematician
and his banker fiance

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

May 25th, 2010

today i discovered that
the trick to getting your way
is believing your way
is right
and talking louder than everyone else.

listening only sets you back.

Monday, May 24, 2010

May 24th, 2010

you plant these things and then you walk away
and they grow and they grow and they grow

and they take things over
for instance the garden bed
and then the lawn
they come inside the house
they fill up the spaces in your walls
in your head
in your heart

these things become weeds
these things threaten to choke you out
these things you plant to be pretty
so soon turn against you
in the ugliest way

Sunday, May 23, 2010

May 23rd, 2010

There is something terrifying about
sitting down with the feeling
that if you don't get something written
there will be no reason to ever get up
again.

May 22nd, 2010

I dreamed that I wrote a poem.
It was beautiful, the best poem i'd ever written
there was something about a bird
and a light
and maybe even a unicorn (but it wasn't cheesy—it was that good a poem)
but when i woke it was gone
and all i was left with was
the sinking feeling that
i do my best work
when i'm not even there.

May 21st, 2010

May 20th, 2010

May 19th, 2010

May 18th, 2010

May 17th, 2010

May 16th, 2010

May 15th, 2010

May 14th, 2010

May 13th, 2010

May 12th, 2010

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

May 11th, 2010

not today

when one finds oneself muttering
fuck, i have to write a fucking poem
one might just be best just
skipping the creativity and
headng straight to bed.

Monday, May 10, 2010

May 10th, 2010

I learned to chop up rocks today
he put a tool in my hands and said,
drill down deep
and i did

the rock cleaved in two
and it was fuck you, mother nature
as i harnessed the power to undo what was never meant to be undone

May 9th, 2010

Photograph #1

we are hunters
capturing time
searching for value
in moments
in space

who is happy
see where we all went
see how we were
happy then
happy there

each photo is a shot fired
an arrow
a fresh kill

May 8th, 2010

Photograph #2

While you are taking pictures of things
I am taking pictures of you

you with your camera and
me with my heart

but we share the same goal:
we want a touchstone
a reference we can go back to
to remind us when we begin to forget

Friday, May 7, 2010

may 7th, 2010

conference meals

my tummy is full of cake
i drank so much liquor it was a lake
and now i really ache.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

May 6th 2010

this hotel

we did some of our best loving in hotels
fighting, too

in rooms that looked much like this one
in other cities, countries
our story took shape
and a history was formed
and a future was sketched out
to be written down later

and now i'm here
alone
in this hotel
without you
as though i'm writing a Super Summer Special
a sidestory
of my own
and i miss you
but sometimes
a character has to tell her own story
once in a while

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

May 5th, 2010

there are things we don't want to remember

i don't want to see him;
his heart broke mine.

it's not that the wound will open afresh
and spill bloody sadness across the floor--

it's not that i still love him
and the angels will weep at our meeting--

it's not that he wants me back
and i will go because i've not met anyone better
(and besides,
he' s not yet totally bald)--

no
it's that
i'm ashamed
that once my heart did break
that the sadness was so bloody
and the angels did weep

you see:
i'm horrified that there ever was a time when
i would have taken him back
if i had been given the chance

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

may 4th, 2010

may the fourth be with you

her pilates instructor
teases her because she knows things
about Star Wars
that a person in her position
shouldn't admit to knowing
and she wears this shame
as a secret thrill

Monday, May 3, 2010

May 3rd, 2010

a cup of tea

when your mouth is dry and pasty
and your day feels a tad bit wastey
i heartily suggest you contemplate
a restorative cup of tea.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

April 30th, 2010

i forgot about today.

that happens when you are busy
thinking about tomorrow.

May 1st, 2010

a three-stanza, abab poem about haiku
for patrick

in the land of the tokyo tower
in a place known for ninjas who duel
people know language has power
as long as it's written with rules

the format is simplistic and sweet
a pattern of 5-7-5 is the scheme
syllables count more than the beat
the images make up each scene

a favourite of children and teachers
within "the land of the rising sun"
the haiku itself has no equal
and writing them really is fun.