Miscellaneous Missives

Enter the Void By Juan Felipe Herrara I enter the void, it has the shape of a viola: Israel, Jenin, West ank, Nablus-- a rubble boy shifts his scapula as if it was his continent, underground Gazaground, I want to say-- his only bone, the rubble boy is a girl, I think her hair tossed, knotted and torn under the green shank of fibers, tubes and shells. She digs for her rubble father,  I say rubble because it is indistinguishable from ice, fire, dust, clay, flesh, tears, concrete, bread, lungs, pubis, god, say rubble, say water-- the rubble girl digs for her rubble mother, occupation-- disinheritance-- once again, I had written this somewhere, in a workshop, I think, yes, it was an afternoon of dark poets with leaves, coffee and music in the liquor light room... Enter .  I linked the poem because I think it's worth reading the entire poem.  It's also the site I used for most of my poems I used during this Lenten experience.  Today is the last...

Like the Small Hole by the Path-Side Something Lives In by Jane Hirshfield Like the small hole by the path-side something lives in, in me are lives I do not know the names of, not the fates of, nor the hungers of or what they eat. The eat of me. Of small and blemished apples in low fields of me whose rocky streams and droughts I do not drink. and in my streets-- the narrow one, unlabeled on the self-map-- they follow stairs down music ears can't follow, and in my tongue borrowed darkness, in hours uncounted by the self-clock, they speak in restless syllables of others losses, other loves. There too have been the hard extinctions, missing birds once feasted on and feasting. There too must be machines like loud ideas with tungsten bits that grind the day. A few escape.  A mercy. They leave behind small holes that something unweighed by the self-scale lives  in. Path .  I'm lost in the see-through/ Pane always needs a bath/ between a want a...

The robins need spring... more than a calendar date. The Spirit Likes to Dress Up by Mary Oliver The spirit  likes to dress up like this:    ten fingers     ten toes, shoulders, and all the rest  at night   in the black branches,    in the morning in the blue branches  of the world.   It could float, of course,    but would rather plumb rough matter.  Airy and shapeless thing,   it NEEDS    the metaphor of the body, lime and appetite  the oceanic fluids;   it needs the body's world,    instinct and imagination  and the dark hug of time,   sweetness    and tangibility, to be understood,  to be more than pure light   that burns    where no one is-- so it enters us--  in the morning   shines from brute comfort    like a stitch of lightning; ...

Getty Images A Pretty Woman by Robert Browning XII ...Is the creature too imperfect, Would you mend it And so end it? Since not all addition perfects aye! XIII Or is it of its kind, perhaps, Just perfection-- When REJECTION Of a grace not to its mind, perhaps... Rejected .  It seems there's actually a rejection song which is obviously different then the redemption song.  We're in tournament time, so I can't think of the word rejection without thinking of blocked shots.  I've been listening to a lot of interviews with players and coaches and talking to some Iowa State fan peeps.  Everyone is nervous and excited for Friday's game.  Although I'm glad the players have a break, I would like it to be played today.  Play it, and get it over.  I have painted my nails red and yellow (alternating fingers) in celebration of being in the Sweet 16.  Rejection... I don't know... Today I'm thankful for... 1) Snow... I know this sounds wei...

No Coward Soul is Mine by Emily Bronte No coward soul is mine No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere I see Heaven's glories shine And Faith shines equal arming me from Fear O god within my breast Almighty ever-present Deity Life, that in my hast rest, As I undying Life, have power in Thee Vain are the thousand creeds That move men's hearts, unutterably vain, Worthless as withered weeds Or idlest froth amid the boundless main To waken doubt in one Holding so fast by thy infinity, So surely anchored on The STEADFAST rock of Immortality... Steadfast .   All my life I'll spend it with you/ All of my days will be for loving you/ each and every night for the rest of my life/ I'd be STEADFAST, unmovable, unshakable/ ...  I'd like to admit that I'm not a fan of the poem today, but I had to give up trying to find a poem with the word steadfast. Yesterday and today I did short rides outside on my bike.  It's obvious to me that...

Thanks By W. S. Merwin Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings we are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food to look at the sky and say thank you we are standing by the water thanking it standing by the windows looking out in our directions... Thanks!  I give thanks for the Lenten Photo Challenge.  It's given me a focus for each day.  Some days are obviously more difficult than others, but I've enjoyed finding a poem and song for each day.  Today's songs were fun since they're all by great female artists.  As part of my Lenten practice, I've also tried to add three things I'm thankful for (gratitude list) at the bottom of my post.  My life is full of positives, and this should be easier than it seems to be. I'm giving thanks today for the first day of spring break.  It's 9:30, and I've done nothing but drink coffee which has been delightfu...

Song by Muriel Rukeyser Make and be eaten, the poet says, Lie in the arms of nightlong fire, To CELEBRATE the waking, wake. Burn in the daylong light; and praise Even the mother unappeased Even the fathers of desire. Blind go the days, but joy will see Agreements of music; they will wind The shaking of your dance: no more Will the ambiguous arm-waves spell Confusion of the blessing given... Celebrate .  Today is the official first day of spring.  This is a reason to celebrate.  The Cyclones won last night and are on their way to the Sweet 16.  This, too is a reason to celebrate.  Cookie monster has a new commercial.  This is yet one more reason to celebrate. Celebrate = Gratitude list.