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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 ...

Monday, December 30, 2019

Renewed Vision: 2020



New Year's day 2020
And sunlight itself
Has awoken refreshed
Clarifying all that 
Presents itself 
The coffee grinds
The plate of crumbs
Each branch and twig 
All once again self-possessed
And each shadow endowed 
With renewed purpose
The mind comes with 
A calendar of its own and 
It relishes nothing more  
Than a clean slate


Saturday, December 28, 2019

Gardening in December

As for excuses
I've just about run out
When it comes to the garden
That's why I'm out here
This morning even though
It's December 28th
A warm front came through
The northeast lifting us
Ten or fifteen degrees above
What used to be normal
Not that I'm keeping track
Of every last degree
But climate like
Politics emerges
From the mix of
Global regional
And local factors
So we each must do
Our part with the sliver
That lies in our control

Friday, December 27, 2019

To the Hellebore

Two days after
Christmas and
Already I see the first
Signs of spring
Let no one say it
Comes too soon

Brushing dead leaves
From last year's growth
On top of the Hellebore
Now dogeared
And threadbare
From the long hard fall
Tattered but green

There hugging the earth
Lies the season's first bloom
Silent in its dirt filled manger
The baby with its first blush
How remarkable it is that
Coeval with winter's advent
Comes rebirth






Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The Signal

To look directly into
The heart of the matter
Isn't that what an artist
Is supposed to do
That's what I learned
From Marissa and that's
What she learned from Allan
Art is a transitive power
That passes from one soul
To another as we learn how
To conduct a proper inquiry
Into the way Nature works

**********

One of the major reasons I'm looking forward to working with Marissa on the Apology podcast next year is because it's a chance for her to explain what she learned from Allan. I mean the podcast will be primarily devoted to telling the story of Allan and the Apology Line. But along with that there is a major subplot, namely Marissa's first hand account of what she learned from Allan. I've seen and learned some of this myself, derivatively that is, through what I have learned watching Marissa herself at work. It's the same sensibility and high sense of purpose applied to her own body of work.


The Signal by Marissa Bridge

Sunday, December 8, 2019

The Great Latches of Being (for Anne Carson)


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Who will moderate the moderator
Who will make of life something more
Than a spectator sport
The great latches of being that are
Within reach of us all
Our addendum to seeing
The feeling of what is the what
We carry deepest of all