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Jacquins

I'm remembering a lemonpledge wiped breakfront by the front room windowon which rested a perpetual cut crystalcarafe of blackberrybrandy:two eight year old girlsthought nothing of upendingthe sweet liqueur onto the crystal stopper whichremoved with a corklikepopgave just a l..

In Penny's Heaven

There will be way more solace than in mine. I picturedying and being faced with a dream about a brokenescalator, the vnn vnn vnn catchof never getting anywhere. I've been told all my life for me is thesecond-hand canopy, the one with the stain. But Penny - she deserve..

Sonnet 1

I tried to tell you how I really felt,but cobwebbed steps appeared inside my mindor antique-era carpet that would meltbeneath my tiny feet as I would findmyself running fast upward from some ghost.(A basement full of trauma that still seepsits way into each savage breach headmost,as modern disputes ..

MRD

Quite simply I don't like you in the wayI've been taught not to like anything that comes from a bottle. False genie with your timebound blonde tease artfully posed so there's nothing --To a man you're an invitation and to a woman inclined toward menas well, competition..

Nice Advice

With language in pockets for writing at home,here are some words you can’t use in a poem:Moonswept or windswept or anything -sweptapart from a floor on which roachcrumbs are keptBlissful or hopeful or joyful or fey(*used in the old antiquarian way).Jasmine and rainb..

Lens

For Capture writing contest

St Teresa of Avila (after Bernini)

For Devons' picture this contest

After A While

I want to allow for you to notbe in my mind anymore,as if we never were.I want to eschewdreams with confusingtropes, to pass the uncertainty backthrough the spheres, hand over steady hand. To know thatcertain things, most agreeably to eachiota of truth ignored, finally end...

When Gold and Gems Adorn the Plough

The title is from William Blake.

A Broken Villanelle

Remembering: almost tooformal.I don't sit still - I dance and grieve.The truth is vast and infinitesimal.A denouement beyond abysmal-predestined arrows to deceive.Remembering: almost too formal.Foreshortened wish, a penny dreadful,a half a crown of misperceive.The truth is va..

It's Packed at 2 AM, I've Got No Coat

How much of yourself do you give away, after someone’s left your life in disarray? –Everything But The Girl, Lullaby of Clubland

A Brief History of Time

like it happened to somebody else

A Course in Mediumship

There are about fifteen new (short) poems in this series. And the rest are revised. I apologize that it has to be read together but, um, it has to be read together. Enjoy.

The List

You lied and said you'd be thereand were not, said you wouldn't, butyou were.Dabbed your eyes,drank too much,played on my sympathies(which are vast),drank some more . . .but never reached out first(unless you were drinkingquite a bit).Embarrassed me in front..

A Course in Mediumship

I.The other woman is going to mop the floor.A good roll in the hay, butyou should be lighting candles.His real self is so hidden.I want better, purer things.Can't keep re-enacting.Spirit had shown him the same in dreams. II.What always waswrought in shout..

Eight Condensed Conversations

In this world of dreams, drifting off still more; and once again speaking and dreaming of dreams. Just let it be. -Ryokan

Raziel (new poem from "Angels and Rowhouses")

When the two of youwere both in the same roomand readyto jump out of your skin -something about me,and how I am,had drawn thatenergy in -I felt myselfground and drain,draining all passion downpast the planewhere bulbs take root -And left feelingwinter coming on,some certain wingsand wind, thebreath ..

Like a Hurricane (with the Analog Kid)

No, not the Scorpions! We alternate lines here but read it together. Poem 1 of the "Neil" series

Angels and Rowhouses

I have completed revised this series. It is my main MFA project this semester, and it's not finished. You'll see pieces of the poem "Illuminata" integrated.

Becauseboro

Your few years’ silence requestuntil I can be your friendwhen I just asked for some space -even so twiceyou said you lovedme in your note and you knewit would be inadequateand the coward’s way outbut the last time you leftyou did so in silence and thatwas mean and selfish -so you felt I ..

Four Knights

CupsI would never lose or find myselfwearing your shirtin bare feet on shag rugswatching shadows flashfrom late-night TVon beige walls.I think you're new.I think I'm somehow immuneto this tableau.And then whenit falls apart somehowbecause I refuse(owing to the stars..

Court Cards

I said to my prof, so I'm writing haiku, & about tarot cards & dancing. How does it go together? So I wrote some tarot card haiku about dancing.

Yet More Astral Seeking

hi coo zen roo peek a boo

What Did You Expect? A Richard Chamberlain Mini-series?

Haiku-lowku-senryu-kensho

Peng

How did it end up heremy gut withits usual churnbarely recovered fromass-slaps andcharmthere was that smile that mouthI saw it once beforeand when you passedwithout her, I said, I'm sorry for that out thereYou didn't want to be rude -rolled-up sleeves, ..

For Abby

Some Chinese dragon of time,shifting, sensed yourall-seeing eyes, and fled -mercury-drawn lightsang you home bythe channel inside.Drapes ripped.Too silken wise to last,I knew. And so did you.But oh, the gifts you left.

Unanniversary

Five years would-have-been day.It is all I can doto not senda perfectly-coiffede-mail onthe fifty thousandways I'm better offthe curl-papering of whichwould takemore time than I care to devote(that's grooming the wrong wolf)Besides I plan to celebrateb..

I Paint A Picture

You don’t even trythe only timeit comes out right.I know where you pull it from -cinnamon and jewelsand words in French.I know that placedrunk from the danceof man nonsenseRain on sidewalk blocksor tarmac glossed withwet, the five millionfour in the morningsof what you don’t forget.And w..

The Reconsideration Haiku

Don't write about love,or pain, or bets on horses.Death. Taxes. That's it.We all want something.Don't I? Don't you? Doesn't he?What if it's just this?I am covered inflypaper that always drawsa******s and regret.

Despite Bling

Out on the danceflooreverybody is a poem.Beautiful. Not so.

Paint Chip Suite #3

I jammed them under a book.And they were damp.Smoky Grape and Blackheathturned to grit. My Earthy Cane, my Sausalito,if only a cockatielwould sing beneath. If I look upat a ceiling that’s now cracked,there’s a visionof a drape that blowsthrough absent ..

The Empress

The Empress has more in common with Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, the great, fertile mother goddess. –Aeclectic Tarot

Paint Chip Suite #1

Remember Paint Chip Suite #2? No? Me either. Professor thought it important to actually write a #1. You're welcome. ;-)

Dizain

No meter specified - rhyme scheme -a. b. a. b. b. c. c. d. c. d. For Albert's Cafe poetry contest, ten lines, words specified in bold.

Cosmetical

IBooks tell you don’t care.They trumpet it’s about you!Then suggest lipstick.IIDeflect onto me.Then no one will ever seethe ghosts you carry.

Because I Can, That's Why

I knew that e-mailwould make you pick up a phone.My arrow's precise.

Adieu Haiku

The more old I discard, the more new I invite.

Diva Haiku

Should any man carethat I'm having a bad daybecause of my hair?If I want something,correct answer is “Yes, Ma'am!”(Or before I ask.)Where does she get off-?Gasp! Did she really do that-?Perhaps they're jealous? Don't be. If you're me -colossalpain in the a..

Past Life Haiku

I was a geisha.Can't you tell from all the men?And the tea-worship?I was male sometimes.And I died bubonically.That was afterward.I hid from husbands.Walls figured prominently.Along with roses.I was from England.I fought in one of the wars.Didn't everyone?On..

The Hanged Man

all this talk bout lovegirl, where you been all your life?ain't no man can love.-sonia sanchezFirst it was quiet. Moved through the house the waya breeze blows a curtain.You come here by yourself?Your girlfriend leaving now?What do you do, just dance?Who's your pa..

Effortless, Basho

Already a month.Somehow we're still in that fieldBending. Not bending.

Into A Strange Fashion of Forsaking

I loved thatyou leaned in my ear.Your starched shirt.Not like a lot of men.I slough them off like snow. Is it really so bad stars, sky, air -for me alone,back to my car?Archangels are there.Would you be just like the rest?Who ever comes back for a kiss?..

Various Engines of Philosophical Inquiry

They say it's alwayssomeone else's stuff getting in the way. Not mine.Like if they had a bad childhood, or rickets.Affects the future.All I know is, youdon't call. For some that would beenough. Not me. Well.Was I not pretty?Did I not smile enough?Nor smell like violet..

Kubla Khan

The air itself can breathe.A forest. A dragonflypulses bright colorsin its wings.A peacock stalksthe villa steps of Ravenna,and feathers' gilding in a dozendifferent blues.Fragmentsare the greensof a broken bottle'sbloom. Violets and diamonds.Ovals pure as eggs.Shif..

What's the Story

Early in the dayI texted them both: what's the story.The phone rang.One sang:The story isyou're crazy.His libretto. I directed:Sing a song about howyou stand me up. Singabout that. You meeting somebody?Never. I could standnext to him for hours,I could li..

Eff U Hi Coo

Today I shreddedthe crap you asked me to buyall those wasted years.The good thing is you'regone, and I don't have to talkto you anymore.Those used to be mymost valuable possessions.As if there were proof.The shredder got stuckon a few of the greeting cards. Hard..

Little River Band This

A single traffic light,bakery of sugared art,the gun and ammunition store.Apartment block.Patchwork red brick.Behind a pool cabana,a Knights of Columbus hall.Behind a mechanic'sdumpster and his rust-encrusted wall.Your arms and snow -fences, automatic flashes,concre..

Dysfunctional Family Haiku

Being raised by drydrunks means that you never knowwhat normal is like.I could fill a bookwith breathless family tales.Theedge of your seat.Tired of thinkingabout the things that scared me when I was seven.Silvery moonbeamsbelong kissing the moon's cheek.Not..

Paint Chip Suite #2

I like paint color names. I take chips from the stores pretending I'm going to paint a room, but I paint nothing, just write poems. The palette is called Lausanne Sky. I've actually been there. Twice.

The Report Card

Cardstock almost amber,penmanship quite proper.The home and schoolshare a common aim. My mother's grades,outstanding.Scent a chalk-freeGrade 4B, Room 16.School: John Marshall.Health plays a vital partin your child's success. IT IS IMPORTANTTHAT ANY DEFECTSBE CORRECTED...