poem

  • You Put the Villain in the Villanelle: Modern Pet Peeves

    You put the villain in the villanelle, Your SUV sprawled cross two parking spots. A little act that brings a little hell. – In shops and trains you yell into your cell As if the whole world hung upon your… Continue reading

    You Put the Villain in the Villanelle:  Modern Pet Peeves
  • Trench(coat) Warfare

    I didn’t realize people pack When heading off to Nordstrom Rack So I was taken quite aback To see this sign upon the door. ** You brought your gun to Nordstrom Rack – do you expect trench(coat) warfare? ** I’d… Continue reading

    Trench(coat) Warfare
  • Whence My Line?

    I It’s little known that Robert Frost Worked in a golf club’s Found and Lost Where one day he said to the pro Whose woods these are I think I know. II Emily Dickinson tore out her hair – Insomnia… Continue reading

    Whence My Line?
  • Aesthetic Synaesthesia

    I like singers who write large stories about small worlds – Mitchell and Dylan and Isbell And Cohen and Wonder and Darnielle And Swift and Prine and Raitt And Browne and Simon and Waits And so many others whose songs… Continue reading

    Aesthetic Synaesthesia
  • Why Shoes?

    Why shoes? Left-right memorials, black even Before the soot from the ovens. Why shoes? Where are the shirts, dresses, pants, Stockings, skirts, watches, socks, Sweaters, rings, neckties, pins, Eyeglasses, underwear? Who claimed them after? Why shoes? They wait to walk… Continue reading

    Why Shoes?
  • My Cousin’s Hand

    Thirty thousand years ago, give or take a few, Leaving handprints on the wall was quite the thing to do. (Nowadays of course, like so much else, it’s just taboo.) We don’t know why and never will, but sometimes when… Continue reading

    My Cousin’s Hand
  • What Fables We’d Forge

    Erase from your thoughts molten lava and chalk, The crusting and cooling and cracking. Step back a while before Hutton and Lyell, Let tall tales supply what is lacking. Because we like legends and love to pretend, A causeway the… Continue reading

    What Fables We’d Forge
  • No More and Nothing Less

    Why face the wall when food and danger lie the other way? It’s not that we’re shy or can’t abide the skies of steely gray. Why build our nests on window frames when cliffs and rocks abound? It’s not that… Continue reading

    No More and Nothing Less
  • Feathered Data Points

    Feathered data points on an avian graph, We gather and gabble and brood and breed And slumber and squabble and chatter and chill, Warming our futures in the midnight sun As gulls have always done. [Photo taken in Nusfjord, Lofoten… Continue reading

    Feathered Data Points
  • Acacia Were Wondering

    Acacia were wondeing, I’m standing right here, Dappled coat marrying sunlight and leaves. Tourists jolt by craving A/C and beer, Reading all ‘bout me in their Rick Steves. Surprised to hear puns coming from a giraffe? Humor suits me as… Continue reading

    Acacia Were Wondering