Category Archives: Uncategorized

1. First, forget that you want to write a poem. Because maybe you don’t. But you’ve got a blank page or too-bright screen in front of you, aching for you to put something on it. 1b. Just set down some … Continue reading →

Ah, but getting the rock to confide in you,to divulge its stony name… there’s the trick. It helps to hold the rock with great tendernessand, yes, hum, softly, and listen, carefully, ear to the pebble to detect its tiny notes. … Continue reading →

(in honor of Live Long and Prosper Day, Leonard Nimoy’s birthday) We think Star Trek,but Jews know that it’sthe gesture for the Hebrew letterShin, the first letter of the word Shalom. And the man who created it,who parted the fingers … Continue reading →

for Laura Martin It occurs to me that I’ve never asked—you, the Pie Lady, about your favorite kinds,you who bake them for holidays andoccasions, for friends— and what flavor might I assemble for you?A word pie of perfectly blended syllablesnot … Continue reading →

You think I don’t love you,that I think of you asjust the feeder? What about when I curl upright between your legs at night,locking you into warmth? When I sniff the socks you’vejust removed to inhalethe essence of you that … Continue reading →

(in memory of Heide Juchnik) That we are hardwired to loveand lose is what comes again and again—the euphoria of spring springinginto sudden, bright leaves wherethere were none days ago,green harbingers that will agethrough summer, grow brittleby fall. It is … Continue reading →

Now you’re just teasing us with thesepopcorn clouds scudding by one moment and thick gray clodhoppers overheadthe next. You dangle spring before us like a carrot before the horse, likecatnip treats I offer the cat before sneaking in to pill … Continue reading →

Three young men showed upnot long after 8 a.m. ready tocarefully trim the old sycamore,its caretaker a bit trepidatiousabout what Braden, the climber,might decide to remove. It’s a heritage tree, the estimatorsaid, which means that they takeextreme care with the … Continue reading →

for Deborah Meltvedt on World Poetry Day The river looks like a muddy lake,milk chocolate spread from bank to bank, the swollen American not at flood stage,but definitely a crest that will recede in the coming days. We walk the … Continue reading →

toward spring even aswinter still whooshes through us,shakes us like a wet dogpelting us with spiky drops. Turningthe heart toward mystery,toward the divine,as we walk into whatwe cannot see, as we turnrounding this sharp corner,then that one,the winding path unclearbut, … Continue reading →