Valentine Not a red rose or a satin heart. I give you an onion. It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. It promises light like the careful undressing of love. Here. It will blind you with tears like a lover. It will make your reflection a wobbling photo of grief. I am trying to […]
Poetry
Being Danced
I Wish I Could Speak Like Music I wish I could speak like music. I wish I could put the swaying splendor Of the fields into words So that you could hold Truth Against your body And dance. I am trying the best I can With this crude brush, the tongue, To cover you with […]
Beyond Words
One of the few smiling Buddha images, Shey monastery in Ladakh Trying to speak about the ultimate reality is like sending a kiss through a messenger. Rumi An appropriate thought to meditate upon when the urge towards speechlessness is strong…
Blind Grinding of Gears Against our Bodies and Lives
Venus Rising by Jean Léon Gérôme It Is the Rising I Love As long as I struggle to float above the ground and fail, there is reason for this poetry. On the stone back of Ludovici’s throne, Venus is rising from the water. Her face and arms are raised, and the two women trained in […]
Deep Season
A Charm I have a twin who bears my name; Bears it about with him in shame; Who goes a way I would not go; Has knowledge of things I would not know; When I was brave he was afraid; He told the truth, I lied; What’s sweet to me tastes bitter to him; My […]
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Juan Ramon Jiménez: Strange Joy
I have shared the poetry of Juan Ramon Jiménez here before (most recently on September 3), and recently I have been even more compelled by his work. Poet Robert Bly’s volume, Lorca & Jiménez, brings together the works of these two extraordinary Spanish poets and offers a window into the creative context of Jiménez’ view […]
The Terror of Waking
Three Days of Forest, a River, Free The dogs have nothing better to do than bark; duty’s whistle slings a bright cord around their throats. I’ll stand here all night if need be, no more real than a tree when no moon shines. The terror of waking is a trust drawn out unbearably until nothing, […]
The Dark Towns
The Problem of Anxiety Fifty years have passed since I started living in those dark towns I was telling you about. Well, not much has changed. I still can’t figure out how to get from the post office to the swings in the park., Apple trees blossom in the cold, not from conviction, and my […]
The Bully Heart
One is One Heart, you bully, you punk, I’m wrecked, I’m shocked stiff. You? you still try to rule the world–though I’ve got you: identified, starving, locked in a cage you will not leave alive, no matter how you hate it, pound its walls, & thrill its corridors with messages. Brute. Spy. I trusted you. […]