Sunday, December 27, 2020

Under the Light of the Eleventh Moon



Settling in the chill creekbed
Tonight under a soft blanket
Of December moonlight

There's a level of tranquility
Along the shoreline
I've never felt before

The waters have withdrawn
Far distant from the shore
And the tide gone so slack
It may never snap back again
From stillness of such depth




Friday, December 25, 2020

Things the Lawn Whispered to Me

Up until now I had only

Been dimly aware of the lawn's 

Interest in communicating with me

As sporadically displayed by

The mysterious calligraphy

The moles scratched out

As they dug their summer burrows

But now it appears the lawn

Has opened a second seasonal

Channel which consists of these

Barn hex or crop circle patterns 

That have recently begun

Popping up in the snow and

To be absolutely honest about it

I have no idea what they 

Could possibly mean





Saturday, December 19, 2020

Winter Scene (II) -- in reply to A R Ammons



The other day
In the heart of Queens
I came across
The strangest scene

Mid-December
Midway down the block
A cherry tree stood
In full bloom

Around it buzzed
A dozen wasps
Resurrected from
Their winter slumber

A chill wind blew
The petals fluttered
Spring thus come in winter
Being both ill omen
And strange wonder


*************

This morning I read an A.R. Ammons called Winter Scene that had been posted to Twitter. "There is now not a single/leaf on the cherry tree" - as the poem begins. (You can read the full Ammons' poem here: https://allpoetry.com/poem/14370666-Winter-Scene-by-A.R.-Ammons.)

It immediately brought to mind this strange sight I came across last weekend when I went into the City to visit my kids. I have no idea how such a thing happens. One more sign of our planetary crisis or maybe just a tree recently transplanted from a greenhouse where it had been force-fed some Monsanto growth compound. As Paul Simon wrote, these are the days of miracle and wonder, except now there is a decided presentiment of time being broken and perhaps beyond repair.

Friday, December 18, 2020

Poem Written in Twilight on December 18, 2020 as I Stepped Outside the Front Door


I swear on the entire stack of poems

I shall ever write

Tonight while walking my dog

I beheld a most miraculous sight

Some might say the Star of Bethlehem

But no less spectacular I say

The near conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter
A once in 200 year celestial event
Just outside my front door

Soon to converge again

As Galileo first saw

****************

This poem was composed as a Tweet as I walked my dog this evening, swept away by the sense of serendipity to behold such a sight.