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The Journey to the West

Though we journey to the West We pray to the East More or less that's the way Each day begins and ends It’s a tale everyone ...

Sunday, December 29, 2013

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

Saturday, December 28, 2013

A Poem for Frank O'Hara

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


-->
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

Saturday, December 14, 2013

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

Saturday, December 7, 2013

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? 

* * * * * *


-->
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 9th 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