Another Poem - version 3

Another poem

Another wisp of smoke

A fragrant cloud

That wafts from

The bedroom window

Across the hedgerows below

Until with many millions

Of cilia I'm ready 

To believe

In the inherent

Beauty of utterance

All over again

How like a jumbling tower

Built from the most

Ordinary of expressions

It may reach extraordinary heights

Simply by following a natural order

As with birth and death

Both rhyming and

Sequenced

Another Poem - version 2

I wonder which is better, version 1 or version 2?

Another poem

Another wisp of smoke

A fragrant cloud

That wafts from

The bedroom window

Out across the hedgerows

With many millions

Of cilia I begin

To believe

In the inherent

Beauty of utterance

All over again

Like a jumbling tower

Built from the most

Ordinary of expressions

But following a natural order

As with birth and death

Both rhyming and

Sequenced

Another Poem

Another poem

Another wisp of smoke

A fragrant cloud

That wafts from

The bedroom window

Out across the hedgerows

With many millions

Of cilia I begin

Believing

In the inherent

Beauty of utterance

All over again

A Poem for Frank O'Hara

This is a poem I wrote after reading the Lunch Poems for the first time.


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Just the other day

Frank explained to me

All about the light

He’d seen that seemed

To be eternal

A light I might add

That I merely comprehend

As being external to me

And likewise he explained the joy  

He beheld as something inexorable

That strikes me

At least sometimes

As remotely accessible

Not so much foolishly

Found in the wind

As indulged in

Whenever I happen

To be so lucky

An Artist's Prayer

This is a short poem I wrote this morning that is extracted from a longer work-in-progress that is provisionally entitled  My Life.

As if there might ever
Be serenity in such Art
Daily I pray to
Whichever Gods
Or incarnate beings
Might grant me
The wisdom to
Discern the difference
Between lines still
Needing change and
Those approaching perfection
And in peace to abideth
The world's indifference
But nonetheless with courage
To continue giving voice to words
That may better serve as
Transom to my soul

A Poem for Roger Waters

I wrote this poem (or maybe better to call it a song) after reading the poem by Du Mu that was said to have inspired the Pink Floyd song Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.  Is it mere coincidence, I wonder, that today is Pearl Harbor Day? 

* * * * * *


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Little by little

The night fills with sounds

The waters run deep

In darkness purple

If not overly profound

Please don’t set the controls

Unless you’re sure where

You’re bound

But if you’re one of those

Still inclined to search

For meaning in the lyrics

Of a song on the B side

That was said to be inspired

By a 9^th century poem

Then please

Please don’t be

Surprised to

Discover that

It’s otherwise

Based on a simple

Misunderstanding

Because if pigs had wings

Then surely bacon wouldn’t

Be quite so tasty

And if novices had leaves

Then most likely they

Would never utter a sound

It’s high time

It’s high time you

Turned your back

On the west wind

My friend

Whatever else it is

Please realize

It’s time to turn

Yourself around

It's time

It's time

It's time to 

Turn yourself 

Around