Category: Ancient
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On watching fish and light
i. The light of our fire straining up these walls brings me back. Far away from my brothers, I followed a fish upstream, moving quickly, without a thought. The light reflected off the ripples the fish made and caught my eyes. So easy to dazzle, even now. Further up, he nestled under a branch and…
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Nobody knows any more than ever
Why do you think it is necessary to visit me here, in my place of origin? Do you think I cannot reach you wherever you are? Must you believe in talismans? I admit doubt. I have wandered all over, as have you, and all I know is inside me, not here in this cave or…
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On poetry and knowing things
Today a child tossed a white stone into green water. As it sank, it turned pale green, then darker green until I could no longer pick it out from the green of the depths. At that instant, it disappeared forever. But you and I know better. We cannot deny its presence, its truthfulness. We mark…
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Roman ruins lying off a square in Arles
Muscles of stone hold fast one on top of another, watch time slip by in tiny packages, endless streams pouring forward, memory perfect. When did this corner round off? How did this carving waste away? You needn’t ask; it is known. Rough-hew blocks exhale their millennial sighs, add rhythm to time, note each breeze with…
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Old elm
Abandoned farmhouse, greying outbuildings. Our old elm on the corner that died last year stood through the winter to remind us of its broad generous shade, kind relief now removed. Empty sky. Time unwinds, pulls me back to your year as sapling in crowded woods before this town, this house. Our kinship holds, deeper need,…
Poems from in between 