Category Archives: Uncategorized

we live in the midst of astonishing mystery,and in the everydayness, we must remember to celebrate the miracle of where we find ourselves,in the most ordinary places—at the car wash, perhaps—on a hot spring afternoon watchingpeople vacuum up and wipe … Continue reading →

the red bush roses that Inez, the saintof Santa Ynez Way, planted years agoin the space between the apartmentbuilding next door and my front yard— luxuriant roses that unthinkingyard guys working next door hackedto bits, far from the proper pruningInez … Continue reading →

for the Poeppel cats… and their people I rise and dress, shunning the showerfor now, aware that today is the first dayof cat feeding a friend’s felines downthe block, maybe a quarter mile walk,including the stairs up to her old … Continue reading →

for Mary Mackey I follow her down the path by the river,her river, the one she and her late husbandcanoed, where they swam and soaked upall manner of nature, when they weren’t teaching or traveling to the Amazonfor research—him the … Continue reading →

for Henry, great nephew-to-be You will not remember this bythe time you are old enough to remember,but you should know that while you were still cooking inside your mama,you were already adored by peopleyou would grow to call by name: … Continue reading →

for Lisa Now that she’s gone, you tell me,you sense that there’s more you shouldhave said, more you should have asked, but she has died after a long life,and you can’t begin to think of all youwish you’d said, much … Continue reading →

There’s an obesity of roses weighingdown the stems in my back yard,drenched by winter’s oh-my-god-not-more-rain deluges so rare in theseparts that the lawn morphed into amonths-long lagoon. The roses live just off the lagoon, whichhas at long last receded, giving … Continue reading →

for Julia Ellen Cook,July 15, 1916–May 9, 1998 Honey, she’d say,in a voice that still comes to mewaking and dreaming, Honey, you have to choose to stay.You just can’t leave. I was 22 and 100 pounds and passing out for … Continue reading →

for Timi On a breezy May afternoon,driving down a street I oncetraversed regularly to and fromthe college, where I taught so many kinds of people—the very young,the not-so-young, the middles, the latermiddles, the young old, the middle old and,lucky for … Continue reading →

They had me at London. And Writers.They write online at 8 a.m. London time,12 a.m. for me. I’m up till midnightanyway when I post the day’s poem,so when the message pops up, Writers’ hour starts in 15 minutes, with a … Continue reading →