STOLEN recent poem published LossLit UK

Birthday and Lifeguard published in Open Thought Vortex, July, 2017

AND

To the Dogs

“A collection of poems in grateful homage to the animals in our lives with original photos of dogs, present and mythological, that express an enduring intimacy between human and animal and the world they share.”…K.B. Burgin, Editor Metro Midwives

Best Friend

She follows me around
and I give her the meat from my mouth
to keep her happy
She gives much relief
from freedom’s space
so you could say she earns it
And there’s more than enough for both of us
It’s not a question of starving
Still, at times, I do it grudgingly
confusing myself with the truly hungry
mired, as I am, in a pond of delight
with all refinements
yet calling myself generous
as I give her a tidbit…
gone to the dogs

“At first glance I was skeptical that a whole collection about dogs and cats would work, but you give us poems that succeed and go deep. Many readers to you!”….X.J. Kennedy, distinguished poet, translator, widely anthologized, recipient Frost Medal Life Time Service to Poetry

LANDSCAPE

Landscape

Ride that protozoan
horse through the forest
Jockey in your South
American dream

Whether or not the stones
resemble skies
the train’s exhalation
underlines the mountain

One eyed trees
peer through their fans
do not blink

The molten river flows
beneath an unclouded blue

The Demagogue

Scream to the impending storm
capture it with your breath
cheeks puffed to bursting
ready to deflate to nothing
nourishing nothing but notions
a desire to prove
you are bigger
than the sky
the sky
your impediment

TO THE DOGS

NEW BOOK JUST OUT

.

39 poems about dogs with 25 photos of dogs present and mythological by the poet

FlameTree-Bx.44 Skea Rd W.Hurley,NY 12491.$10 p.p.or PayPal: flametree@earthlink.net

”I was skeptical that a whole collection about dogs would work, but you ably gives us poems that succeed and go deep. Many readers to you!” X. J. Kennedy.

“I’m enjoying To the Dogs immensely! Simple and complex and beautiful all at the same time. So difficult to achieve that!” Vinni Marie D’Ambriosio

 

Word Craft

Word Craft

The words are dozing
resting from work
at the nuance factory
to regain their original nature
after a life time of time and a half

Outside flocks of poets lurk
nets in hand, ready to flick
wrists and capture
the brightest, the starkest, the most subtle,
to compose poems with them,
if life doesn’t intervene

If it does, there are always butterflies
and flotillas of clouds drifting by

Thieves, An Oral Nightmare

The Thieves, An Oral Nightmare

Why did you steal my teeth
when I only wanted to hear the music?
If my mind wandered
did you have to do your trick
make vanish what I’d lived with all my life?

They were performing Brahms’s third sonata
one bowing on spiked heels in a sleek red dress
the other one pudgy drew ultimate heart
from the nine foot grand she sat at
Was it then with your sleight of hand
you snatched my mouth’s furniture?

How I wound up on the train after that
I don’t know. It was rush hour, the compartments filled
and I was me trapped and forgotten in a corner
unable to chew and being hungry
being soft and unable to fight

They say be grateful that you still have your eyes
thank god or your stars and try to behave
Complaints are not needed, it’s wartime
and keep your mouth shut, you’re not very pretty

from A Slant of Light

Too Late

Too Late

The crab you think
the tide has churned
up for your delectation

has no body
You crack its shell
and sand pours out

What’s hollow
was heavy with promise
when you found it

and carried it home
ignorant that the gulls
had feasted first

Attempted Dialogue With Cicadas

Attempted Dialogue With Cicadas

Flinging this voice up
is futile I’ll never find them
singing in the tree tops
They seem to be everywhere like stars
but I am defeated
And if there be only two or three
each with continual notes
they pitch me out of my frame
into the sky’s dome
and my voice will never discover
what branches they call from
thriving while I fail to reach them
charging the air with their magical tremble
thrilling the forest as they did
when we were dream seeds

from Three Windows