In Charge of Birds
We follow the robin as long as we can,
our eyes tracing the curlicue of her path.
She hops behind bushes and we crouch
to find her....
Capacitance
Coronary sinus that fills and releases. Cascading
breath falls to basin. Small branches stretched
exhaling temperamental at best. Thumbprints
on frosted glass. Windows outlooking lots. Full
of forgotten...
Greylock Glen
yarrow+ ferns +vetch
+++clamber over stone foundations
++++++++of the vanished cabins
++++++++of the extraordinarily stubborn
who tried to farm steep slopes
+++who built beside quick brooks
but one day had...
How My Heart Gets Said
I stop for the view on the horizon,
it’s true, or partly true
every place is a vista
I keep going to.
It’s true, or partly true
I can’t...
World on Fire
Day is blood-orange red
because fire possesses everything now,
because fire says, enough.
Rain is lost over the ocean.
Jump, says dolphin,
water and rocks will catch you. Believe...
Nacre
+++I am the remnant for my mother’s
cousin Pearl, a totem standing
in the shoes she had worn
+++in my mother’s affections.
I’m not sure anymore how, of...
How Lonely Sat the Town
Quarry houses like napping men flanked us. We were born
on the day of other births, many other births.
Inside the train tracks were the sounds...
Dominic
The light dipped behind the acacia tree.
This was the beginning of triumph. We thought.
Until the cicadas so I couldn’t hear him.
His possible many declarations...
Waking Up
A prose poem woke up in an alley. He was lying on the pavement among trash bins, empty bottles, cigarette butts and the smell...
Benign Indignities
Let the waves wash behind you and watch beautiful natural images as Kim Stafford reads aloud in this fusion of word, image, and tune: