Sunday, December 25, 2011

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Blank spots

You will see some blank posts on this blog. This is because I'm submitting some poems for publication and found out that posting them on my blog is considered to be publishing which is considered conflict of interest. So, I'm complying and taking the poems off. So just scroll down and you'll find plenty more. And I'll go through my waiting and growing chap books and post some more soon.

And if anyone out there has ideas for publishing or knows good publishers for poetry let me know. Deidre Scherer (the "illuninator" for the mermaid book) and I are getting closer to having a finished book and want it to find a publishing home.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

just repeating a post

YOU MUST WALK THAT LONESOME VALLEY

(Sing) You must walk that lonesome valley
You have to walk it by yourself
(Speak) The valley of longing
The valley of regret
The valley of despair
The valley of broken childhood
But you can be held.
(Sing) You have to walk it by yourself
(Speak)The valley of broken dreams
The valley of broken love
The valley of gratitude
The valley of patience
The valley of waiting
The valley of opportunity
(Sing) For nobody else
(Speak)
Can walk it for you
But you can be held
The valley of darkness
The valley of silence
The valley of light.
The valley of forgotten love.
The valley of plenitude.
The valley of perpetual longing...
(sing)
For nobody else can walk it for you...
(speak)
And you walk on your hands and knees
You walk running all the while
You walk whistling through your mouth
You walk slipping through the cracks
You walk crashing about
slogging, stumbling, breezing through...
(sing)
You walk it by yourself.
(speak)
And you shall be filled.
You shall be filled.
(sing)
Because we...
(speak)
We walk it
hand in hand
step by step
and when we walk it
Step by step,
we go
hand in hand
in the darkness
and in the light
and if we glance
when we glance
to the side
to the front
to the back
we will find
we are not alone.
Two by two
we are not alone.
Three by three
we are not alone.
to the side,
on and on,
we'll see
we actually walk
together
we walk
together.
though often it
doesn't seem
like together
we gotta see
through our heart--
which is never direct
which is never straightforward
which is never as it seems,
but then it is.

But you gotta
(sing)walk it
by yourself,
For nobody else
Can walk it for you...
(speak)
The walk adds
The walk contributes
Our knees get skinned
Our heads get bumped
Our sides split
Our throats get lumped
Our feet get tickled
Our skin gets parched
Our lips get kissed.
Our stomachs get filled
and then emptied
again
Our thirst gets slacked
Our fingers reach and grab
Our minds get bored
Our patience gets sore, split, excited, worn out, ramshackeled, evanescent,
rewarded, discouraged, enervated, redundant.

And we shall be filled
(sing)
But we must walk
it by ourself
(speak)
and together
we walk
together
we walk
to find ourselves out
to fill ourselves out
to find the spring in our step
the love behind the door
the footloose and fancy free
the mooring for our heart--
around the bend
beneath the waters
on top of the highest peak
we walk it by ourself
(sing)
for nobody else
can walk it for you...
that lonesome valley
(speak)
we walk in the same step
the same moment, at the same time
we just can't see it
but we are held
we are held
(sing)
you have to walk it by yourself.
(speak)
we build ourself in that valley
we find our sisterhood in that valley
our brotherhood
our familyhood
our nationhood
our worldhood
our neighborhood
we find peace
in that valley
our hearts are healed
in that valley
we continue there
in that valley
(sing)no where else.
(speak)
to walk is to lay down
the tread of our life.
(sing)
in that valley
we must walk
we must walk
(speak)
we walk,
in the valley of our heart
the valley of our pain
the valley of our love
the valley of life.


Notes: A wonderful version of the song this poem is based on is John Hurt's Jan. 2008 rendition. Just youtube it.

I realized this poem could be a "participatory" poem. You could easily add your own lines depending on what you are wrestling with at a given moment. That's what the poem is inviting you to do. And it's easy because the rhythms in this song are very forgiving.

Also the poem is a nod to my friend Patti Trimble who has an amazing poem written to "Shenandoah".

Friday, October 21, 2011

SHADOWS

Shadows
gave me
some small comfort
as I looked down
to the ground
to the gravel
my feet
crunched
on the path.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

CONNECTION

I am a spark of god
I realized as i slid my arm
across the sheets
shoulder
turned down
head
dropped
to the pillow.

Earlier as I gazed
out the window of the bathroom
I saw the brightest
star in the sky
its light
still--like the
seed pearl
in an oyster.

Monday, July 11, 2011

A NIGHT WALK

mauve sky
under the moon
the lamplight
casts my shadow
blue
through thick
grey fog
lights glim
birds tweet
fall to the
ground.
around
walking back
my shadow
black
air still
on my face
I forge
from prayers and love
a cloak
to go lightly
over my shoulders.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

keep tinkering

well i keep tinkering with the punctuation on MORNING WALK TO GET THE PAPER. hope it's not dizzying for you.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

morning walk to get the paper

soft flight of birds
hear wings
leaving twisted wire--
crunch into
apple delight,
pale yellow with
clouds of green,
bite 'round
bits of bad
spots.
stopped in tracks
by massive black limbs
and slender leaves
on gum trees
mirrored in a
puddle of silver
also slender.
a tiny permutation
a ripple
wider arcs
spilling out
a breeze?
a drop
from sky?
drop drop
here there
everywhere
waves
waves
life is so
fragile.


as i posted in the last blog, i'm still tinkering with punctuation. any suggestions? i started out with only 2 question marks: the ones after breeze and sky. i liked the flow and the simplicity, but then was afraid i was demanding too much of the reader. what say you?

Saturday, April 30, 2011

a simple for emily

Big black bumblebee
With a buzz so strong
It pulls me
Out of my
Reverie--
To the simple
Task
Of looking.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"YOU MUST WALK THAT LONESOME VALLEY'

(Sing) You must walk that lonesome valley
You have to walk it by yourself
(Speak) The valley of longing
The valley of regret
The valley of despair
The valley of broken childhood
But you can be held.
(Sing) You have to walk it by yourself
(Speak)The valley of broken dreams
The valley of broken love
The valley of gratitude
The valley of patience
The valley of waiting
The valley of opportunity
(Sing) For nobody else
(Speak)
Can walk it for you
But you can be held
The valley of darkness
The valley of silence
The valley of light.
The valley of forgotten love.
The valley of plenitude.
The valley of perpetual longing...
(sing)
For nobody else can walk it for you...
(speak)
And you walk on your hands and knees
You walk running all the while
You walk whistling through your mouth
You walk slipping through the cracks
You walk crashing about
slogging, stumbling, breezing through...
(sing)
You walk it by yourself.
(speak)
And you shall be filled.
You shall be filled.
(sing)
Because we...
(speak)
We walk it
hand in hand
step by step
and when we walk it
Step by step,
we go
hand in hand
in the darkness
and in the light
and if we glance
when we glance
to the side
to the front
to the back
we will find
we are not alone.
Two by two
we are not alone.
Three by three
we are not alone.
to the side,
on and on,
we'll see
we actually walk
together
we walk
together.
though often it
doesn't seem
like together
we gotta see
through our heart.
which is never direct
which is never straightforward
which is never as it seems,
but then it is.

But you gotta
(sing)walk it
by yourself,
For nobody else
Can walk it for you...
(speak)
The walk adds
The walk contributes
Our knees get skinned
Our heads get bumped
Our sides split
Our throats get lumped
Our feet get tickled
Our skin gets parched
Our lips get kissed.
Our stomachs get filled
and then emptied
again
Our thirst gets slacked
Our fingers reach and grab
Our minds get bored
Our patience gets sore, split, excited, worn out, ramshackeled, evanescent,
rewarded, discouraged, enervated, redundant,

And we shall be filled
(sing)
But we must walk
it by ourself
(speak)
and together
we walk
together
we walk
to find ourselves out
to fill ourselves out
to find the spring in our step
the love behind the door
the footloose and fancy free
the mooring for our heart--
around the bend
beneath the waters
on top of the highest peak
we walk it by ourself
(sing)
for nobody else
can walk it for you...
that lonesome valley
(speak)
we walk in the same step
the same moment, at the same time
we just can't see it
but we are held
we are held
(sing)
you have to walk it by yourself.
(speak)
we build ourself in that valley
we find our sisterhood in that valley
our brotherhood
our familyhood
our nationhood
our worldhood
our neighborhood
we find peace
in that valley
our hearts are healed
in that valley
we continue there
in that valley
(sing)no where else.
(speak)
to walk is to lay down
the tread of our life.
(sing)
in that valley
we must walk
we must walk
(speak)
we walk,
in the valley of our heart
the valley of our pain
the valley of our love
the valley of life.


Notes: A wonderful version of the song this poem is based on is John Hurt's Jan. 2008 rendition. Just youtube it.

I realized this poem could be a "participatory" poem. You could easily add your own lines depending on what you are wrestling with at a given moment. That's what the poem is inviting you to do. And it's easy because the rhythms in this song are very forgiving.

Also the poem is a nod to my friend Patti Trimble who has an amazing poem written to "Shenandoah".)

Friday, April 8, 2011

sound

words come to me in poems for how they sound. how does it sound out loud? sound penetrates. sound is so primitive-- sidesteps the rational. sound holds us speaks to us rocks us pushes us. sound borns each moment.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

a word about a word

A note about my poems which have one word on each line. These really do need to be read out loud. I call these my "falling" poems. They're to be read tumbling down the page

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A BLACK BIRD AT DUSK

CAAAAW
CAAAAW.

LARGE clear pearl
puddles,
sticks
to eyelash,
spills
in moonlight
down
my
face.

I knew it would come
at dusk I heard a black bird.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

EVERYDAY MERMAID POEMS

Just got the first fabric sewn "illuminations" from Deidre Scherer (www.dscherer.com) for the first six poems of the book. I'm thrilled. Can't wait until it's a book. Anyone know any publishers? We're shopping around.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

SHADOWS ARE ON THE AIR

Don't you love
shadow?
I walk
toward the moon
it walks behind
I walk
away
it walks ahead
it mimics
the most
intimate minutiae
of me
like my right hand
swings straight back
in full fling
while my left
holds itself still
in a cup.
On a surfboard
such paddling
would bring me
a-round.

Monday, February 7, 2011

SKELETON WOMAN books have arrived

THE COVERS ARE BEAUTIFUL.


friends and supporters and cast will begin receiving books in the mail. if you don't get one and feel you're in this category contact me with your address and i'll send you one.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

SKELETON WOMAN WILL ARRIVE AGAIN SOON

Andrea Dunlap, the book designer, sent lulu a great e-mail describing the botched covers and they got it. So the 50 books are due any day.

huzzah huzzah. my first book is done. you can order it through lulu.

also had a wonderful design consult with deidre scherer who is "illuminating" my poems from EVERYDAY MERMAID POEMS. quite exciting. I won't tell what we're up to, but i think you will like it. All I'll say is that it leans towards the abstract. Our goal was to have a genuine equal dialogue going on between my work and hers. we've been talking and playing with ideas since a year ago January. You know all that research and exploring basement work before a project begins. And now it's begun.

You can look at Deidre's work at www.dscherer.com It's a unique form of art which she's created out of fabric and thread. take a look. it's quite special.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

a confession and rambling

i put some of these poems up too early. i just get too excited. and then i find myself tweaking and editing them online. part of what i'm playing with in my art is to let go of the need for perfection. i could go on and give you other rationalizations :-). just so you know i'm both serious about this and not at the same time.

emily dickinson wrote version after version of her poems. editors often don't know which one was THE ONE. guess what. maybe there isn't a ONE. Playwrights often get talked into one version by directors and years later go back and change it. writing my poems: some days i like one version. some days another. sometimes it's mood dependent. sometimes an experience of the event gets richer and i'm clearer about what i want to say. sometimes another experience changes my original experience of the poem. it's like the "choose your own ending stories and films". of course many times "the penny drops" and you get that feeling of resonance and letting go. the search for perfection is limited in the constant multidimensional, plasticity of our world.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

WHY I WALK AT NIGHT

I walk
clomp clomp
under the face
of the full moon.
Right hand swings forward back
while left goes forward
halfheartedly.
Eyes look down
at the dirt road
feet meet street
and angle right.
Moonlight in sheets
blankets
wet macadam.
A car speeds by
leaves
rivers of red
crickets whirr
two nights ago--
it was frogs.



(still tinkering with this one.)

Monday, January 17, 2011

SKELETON WOMAN DELAYED

Well i ordered a bunch of "Skeleton Woman" books from Lulu to send out to friends and I was so excited to receive them it took me awhile to realize how terrible the printing job was on the covers. Andrea Dunlap my editor went back to Lulu with a complaint and we just received word they will reprint my order. So i will be sending out a bunch of copies to friends and interested parties. Yay! And thank you to Lulu.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

one from emily dickinson

a prebirth poem


Color - Caste - Denomination - (970)
by Emily Dickinson

Color - Caste - Denomination -
These - are Time's Affair -
Death's diviner Classifying
Does not know they are -

As in sleep - all Hue forgotten -
Tenets - put behind -
Death's large - Democratic fingers
Rub away the Brand -

If Circassian - He is careless -
If He put away
Chrysalis of Blonde - or Umber -
Equal Butterfly -

They emerge from His Obscuring -
What Death - knows so well -
Our minuter intuitions -
Deem unplausible

Saturday, January 15, 2011

just sharing a moment from the day

Walking back
from getting
the mail
looked up to
see that ol'
familiar slice
of yellow moon
fatter than a
quarter.
I've ached
for it.
Didn't know.
Our Mouths agape.

I hear
my footsteps.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

BLACK

A black hole
the soul of dread
lives in the
middle of the
bird
with the
many colored
feathers
in its tail.

At night
in the
dark
prequel to sleep
all my pain
all my pain
pain
all in this
world.

Clouds gather
some light
some dark.