Moon Shine

This one came almost in full just as I was trying to go to sleep:

Winter Moon

The half-full moon
shines through the slats
of my window.
Moon, cold mistress,
untouchable and distant:
My blood falls and rises
at your command.

December 18, 2007

I tend to be very skeptical about the supposed supernatural, but my experience with this poem reminded me of a very lively and interesting conversation I once had with my good friend (and very fine poet) Moira Egan regarding the notion of the Muse. One must keep an open mind....

Why I Am Not a Painter

The Poetry Foundation has a very good essay about the interrelationships among poetry, the visual arts, and poems about art and artists.

Washington had its first significant snow of this winter this week. Here's a picture I took in the courtyard at National Geographic.

In the Dark

I have posted several times about the great American poet Charles Wright. The snipe referred to in my previous poem "Unexpected Joy" appeared in his book-length poem Littlefoot. Here's is my newest poem, a direct response & tribute to Mr. Wright. The epigraph is also from Littlefoot.

See in the Dark

“When what you write about is what you see,
what do you write about when it’s dark?”
—Charles Wright

Faces of lost loves
and my sons when
they were small,
images from my own
long gone childhood,
something I saw on
the bus this morning,
and anyway even
with the light off
it’s never completely dark:
I can see the numbers on
a digital clock and streetlight
filtered by the blinds and
ambient light from
who knows where.

November 20, 2007