February Poems and Books

Well, it's been some time since I've posted anything, but some good poems have come out of February so I thought I'd share. On a different note, I'm up to 12 books so far this year. You can see which ones on the side of this blog.



Painting on the Wall
       - inspired by Bob Ross


I could never go there
where the leaves have stopped
moving, have forgotten the brush
of wind,
                 careful as lovers’ fingers,
upon them. The blue mountain, split
into bright snow and shadow, is neither
cold nor solitary,
                              though I know
no one lives in the shack at the base,
lights out, doorless, built to be abandoned.

And the lake is too deep for me,
brimming with starless black.
But though it is not a mirror,

nor the painting itself a reflection,
I see in the dark and light strokes
myself and what is missing.

--------

Downtown Decay
             Sing together, ye waste places - Isaiah 52:9

Another store shuttered up downtown;
what paint is left peels off in letters
leaving the vowels of mourning behind.
Yet they still gather on the patio outside,
the local beggars, mothers, and jazz artists
blowing notes for nickels. It’s business
as usual, because who knows another way
but to tap one’s feet in rhythm with the nails
being pounded down around them. All of us,
they say, have it coming, a day of closure.
Their own homes are lost or escaping
the weak grasp of their hands. Better then
to be together a while longer and listen:
a saxophone plays with the emperor's violin;
even the wind sounds like purifying flames.

--------

A Meeting

Lights bright without blinding,
soft chatter scattering
like white snow in the wind
and the piercing organ vibrating
its notes everywhere:

if this is not heaven, it must be
a branch of its eternal tree
broken off and fallen
on leafy ground. We grow

from seeds like this into forests.

------

Hope you enjoyed them!