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GapAt one end of the restaurant table it is the year 2012Gap6 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
and C. has just returned from a trip around the world,
to Brazil and Egypt and South Africa, India
and Thailand and New Zealand. At the other
end of the table it is 1945 and M. is in a jeep
beside a highway in Germany as 27 Sherman tanks
roar by at sixty miles an hour. I sit in the middle
and perform the spell that keeps the tanks from
crushing the table and my grilled flatbread
and my India Pale Ale and my wife's tomato
soup and grilled cheese sandwich and all of us
who are here beneath their treads. I can do that
with ease, yet spectacular sparks arc across
the voltage drop bet
42421 year ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Here is an orchestra of forty-two -
not too many instruments nor too few.
What happened to the sixteen violins?
Each one has blistered varnish, streaks of soot.
Some reeds and horns have injuries as well.
But many shine and show no sign of harm.
Tonight there is a problem with the score -
the pages disarrayed and on the floor.
We look to the conductor - shreds of light
press in upon the darkness where she stands.
She stands with head bowed down for much too long.
A singer walks on stage - has this been planned?
And the conductor lifts her head and hands.
There will be music. There will be a song.
Three A.M.Three A.M.2 years ago in Free Verse More Like This
You sit in the saddle as you were taught.
Sleep is beneath you, still as a statue.
The reins are loose in your hands. You squeeze
with your legs as you should, below the knees.
Sleep does not move.You cluck with your tongue.
"Walk," you say clearly. "Walk." Sleep does not.
You sit in the saddle as you were taught.
You hold the reins, you kick with both heels.
Sleep does not move. You sit in the saddle.
Where is that crop? Your feet leave the stirrups.
You dismount and stand close beside Sleep.
You look into its wide eye, then step back.
Sleep gallops off. You have to laugh.
A mirrorA mirror5 months ago in Free Verse More Like This
I have a mirror that shows another face.
I have a face that asks to hear a song.
I have a song with room for light.
I have light that is the red inside every color.
I have a color that is waiting for its name.
I have a name that means tenderness.
I have tenderness caught in a mirror.
Thin IceThe ice is thin, the ice is thin -Thin Ice3 months ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
the shore more distant year by year,
and nearly sixty since I left it now.
There is no going back again.
And I am old yet not so very old -
I bless the ice. I pray for cold.
Honey Bee BluesHoney Bee Blues2 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
Sometimes I wish I was a beetle
and I had a chitin shell.
Oh yes, I wish I was a beetle
and I had a chitin shell.
Then I would not even feel it
when you did not treat me well.
Sometimes I am a moth, babe,
flying toward a flame.
Sometimes I am a moth, babe,
flying toward a flame.
This cannot have a happy ending,
but I keep flying just the same.
Sometimes I am a hornet,
if you crowd me I will sting.
That's right, I am a hornet,
if you crowd me I will sting.
You'll be sorry, you'll discover
there is more to me than wings.
Let's get together, baby,
and we'll be two honey bees.
Let's get together, baby,
and we'll be t
Pursued BluesThe speed limit here is fifty,Pursued Blues2 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
but I'm doing a hundred and ten.
If my luck holds out till morning,
I might make it home again.
I've been moving since October
and they haven't got me yet.
I keep my eyes wide open
for every trap they set.
Sometimes I say a prayer to heaven
for the damage all around.
There is justice high above us,
but who can call it down?
The speed limit here is fifty,
but I'm doing a hundred and ten.
If my luck holds out till morning,
I might make it home again.
If I do get home tomorrow,
I will not be there long.
I'll put my arms around my people,
and then I will be gone.
But it's not so much the staying,
No Time for the BluesI had no time for the blues,No Time for the Blues3 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
but they had time for me.
They came to my house
about a quarter to three.
I had to get out of bed
when they knocked on the door.
But why had they come?
They would not tell me what for.
I was awake with the blues
for the rest of the night.
And oh, I saw the blues
by the dawn's early light.
It was a quarter to nine,
I had things I should do.
But I couldn't go out,
I was feeling so blue.
And so I said to the blues,
you must have somewhere to go.
They glanced at the time
and they answered me no.
I had no time for the blues
but the blues didn't care.
All the time in the world
is what the blues h
Your Man BluesI don't want to be a fat man, so I can't find my feet.Your Man Blues11 months ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
I don't want to be a thin man, seeking something to eat.
I just want to be your man - not too fat and not too thin.
I want to ring your bell, babe, and know that you will let me in.
I don't want to be a strange man, so people try not to stare.
I don't want to be a plain man, so people can't see I'm there.
I just want to be your man - not too strange and not too plain.
I want you to feel love, babe, as natural as rain.
I don't want to be a wild man, like a mule kicking in a stall.
I don't want to be a tame man, with no surprises at all.
I just want to be your man - not too wild
I am a silenceI am a silence1 year ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
I am a silence, a small disturbance,
a flatness in the field of voices.
Voices rise like weeds and flowers,
rise like chimneys, rise like towers.
And there are voices high as hell
from whom we hear that all is well -
with some exceptions, we should know.
These are the fault of those below.
Weeds and flowers, for shame, for shame.
So much wrong and you to blame.
But I will not curse, I will not bless.
I am a silence, a small disturbance.
No Turning Around BluesNo Turning Around Blues6 months ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
Going ninety miles an hour
down the highway alone.
Yeah, ninety miles an hour
down the highway alone.
Looking for a U-turn
so I can get back home.
Sometimes I go slower,
to check out what I pass.
I may go slower sometimes -
to check out what I pass.
Nothing ever looks familiar,
so I step on the gas.
Other drivers pass me,
going too fast for words.
Well, other drivers pass me,
going too fast for words.
They go off into the distance
and vanish there like birds.
The highway can be narrow
or it may be ten lanes wide.
It may be one or two lanes,
it may be ten lanes wide.
Is that the sea in the distance
or just a trick of the light?
My home is
FallFall1 year ago in Free Verse More Like This
Something fell. How could a sound so loud
have been a dream? Yet how could a sound
so loud have left a silence thick as this?
There is so little sound you might be deaf.
You say, "hello," softly, to the dark.
You hear your voice clearly through the air.
The lighted clock says four A.M.
Did something fall? It could have been a dream.
It may have been the picture in the hall.
Why did you hang it with a single nail?
Or was it something not so near as that,
whose size and mass you cannot say?
Was it here in the city, a block away,
a mile? There would be sirens, surely.
Or was it something both near and far -
did a world slip dow
Find me3 years ago in Visual & Found Poetry
More Like This
Barbed Wire BalladBarbed Wire Ballad2 years ago in Free Verse More Like This
Bring more barbed wire. Bring the heavy rolls
of twisted steel and metal thorns. Wear
heavy gloves, unspool the wire from the roll,
make loops atop the wall. Bring more.
Bring more barbed wire. Here are metal stakes
on which it may be hung. Go on and on.
Here is a wire cutter for when we are done,
but that will not be soon. Bring more.
Bring more barbed wire. Here are people
to keep out, there are people to confine,
here a place to make secure, here we are
on our side, thank God. Bring more.
Here are people, there are people,
here a border, here a barrier,
here are places, here are people,
here a wall and here the
Old blue dogOld blue dog10 months ago in Personal More Like This
I have an old blue dog, as big as he can be.
He eats way too much but he keeps me company.
I call him Jim and he always calls me sir.
I don't make him do that but it's what he prefers.
He sharpens his claws on the oak tree in the yard.
His claws are nice and sharp but the tree is kind of scarred.
If I sit at the piano he gives me a sideways glance.
But when I play boogie-woogie, he always starts to dance.
He goes to town on Tuesday after I help him groom,
comes home again on Wednesday smelling like perfume.
One time he fought that orange cat that lives a mile away.
But then they licked each other and they are friends today.
He saved a lot of people that time the sky fell down.
They gave him a nice medal but he doesn't wear it now.
One thing he never learned to do is play the violin.
He says he played the banjo once and he thinks he could again.
If I can't sleep at night, he turns the radio on
High Wind BluesA high wind is blowing,High Wind Blues2 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
there are donkeys in the trees.
At least it isn't winter -
those poor animals would freeze.
A high wind is blowing,
there are badgers in the air.
They're blowing by like bluebirds,
their teeth and claws are bare.
A high wind is blowing,
and the river's turned around.
It stopped heading for the ocean,
it's rolling backwards into town.
A high wind is blowing,
it smells like steel and stone.
I taste it in my coffee,
sitting home alone.
You know there is no reason
for this wind to be so high.
And no way to stop it blowing -
there's nothing we can try.
A high wind is blowing,
it to
Someone Else's BluesI read the paper this morning,Someone Else's Blues3 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
and there was nothing but good news.
I read the paper this morning,
and there was nothing but good news.
But I feel so sad and worried,
I must have someone else's blues.
My baby says she loves me,
and I know her words are true.
She tells me that she loves me,
and I know her words are true.
But sometimes I feel like crying,
I must have someone else's blues.
I've been in my favorite club
so long they don't charge me dues.
I've been in my favorite club
so long they don't charge me dues.
But I feel lonely at the meetings,
I must have someone else's blues.
I guess I'll go out looking,
I got to find
Sometimes BluesSometimes I get so tired,Sometimes Blues3 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
I take the stairs one at a time.
Sometimes I get so tired,
I take the stairs one at a time.
But I still get where I'm going,
I'm still making that climb.
Sometimes I feel so frisky,
I go out and sing, I dance and drink.
Sometimes I feel so frisky,
I go out and sing, I dance and drink.
But when the evening is all over,
I sit by myself and think.
Sometimes I think about tomorrow,
sometimes I just hold on tight.
Sometimes I think about tomorrow,
sometimes I just hold on tight.
But I know my hands must be wide open
for things to ever come out right.
City Line BluesI was walking out of trouble,City Line Blues3 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
when I reached the city line.
I was walking out of trouble,
when I reached the city line.
"Speed Limit Zero"
is what it said on the sign.
Zero miles per hour –
how can I ever get past?
Zero miles per hour –
how can I ever get past?
I think my time in trouble
is going to last and last.
I was walking in trouble,
with my dog on a chain.
I was walking in trouble,
with my dog on a chain.
All my good sugar candy
melted down in the rain.
I fell asleep in trouble
and I dreamed that I found –
I fell asleep in trouble
and I dreamed that I found
the way out of trouble
to Serenity tow
Hellish Paradise BluesHellish Paradise Blues3 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
It's a hellish kind of paradise,
there's barbed wire in the pie.
So eat the berries from the bushes,
but wait till they are ripe.
It's a hellish kind of paradise,
where every beast has horns.
Be sure to sharpen up the set
you got when you were born.
It's a hellish kind of paradise,
the compasses spin like clocks.
But use your guts and wisdom
and you will find true north.
It's a hellish kind of paradise,
the songs will break your teeth.
The trick is not to chew them,
but sing them true and sweet.
Sing them blue and sweet.
Whispering BluesI got the whispering blues,Whispering Blues3 years ago in Songs & Lyrics More Like This
and I can't raise my voice.
I got the whispering blues,
and I can't raise my voice.
How will I ever be heard
in a world full of noise?
I drink and I drink,
but my throat is so dry.
I drink and I drink,
and my throat it stays dry.
I got the whispering blues,
I don't know what to try.
I remember the shouting
that I used to do.
So loud, all the shouting
that I used to do.
It never got me nowhere,
gave me the whispering blues.
But if you pay attention,
and you listen to me -
yes, if you pay attention,
and you listen to me,
though I speak in a whisper,
you will hear what I say.
Baby, I will go fi
My Blue ChildI let you go now, my blue child.My Blue Child3 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Fly away, I make you wings of memory and pain.
The wings that offered healing once would not come again.
Your pain is now complete, your pain is past.
Our pain is torn and tearing, our pain will last.
I played a counting game upon your back when we were small.
Then I had your wounds to count. I could not count them all.
A prince come from a star, with golden hair;
I took you to my heart, I held you there.
You were my own, and every threat to you made me fierce.
Now I must be, yet cannot be, fierce enough for this -
to let you go now, my blue child
I Met a Red DevilI Met a Red Devil3 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
I met a red devil
and said, "Tell me your name."
"My name," it replied,
"is You-Are-to-Blame."
I said, "Those are the words
I tell myself every day.
Now that I know your name,
I can send you away."
Then the red devil screamed,
but it had to depart.
And the scream echoed on
for a while in my heart.
In FlightA. pays the seven dollars for a beer,In Flight3 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
the flight attendant takes his twenty
and says that she will bring change shortly.
He pops the top and pours the beer with care,
waits for the foam to go. With seatbelt tight
and armrest lost to someone on his right,
he can barely move. He is snug as his son
in a denim carrier on his chest all those
years ago, and as content. He is safely
out of touch, can do nothing for anyone,
nor be asked to. He can lift his plastic cup.
He can sip beer through the remaining foam.
He can lower the cup. He can do no more,
so lets himself feel no more need be done.
Alone a while, and glad to be alone -
Sta.sh
