The Birds Have Vanished Into the Sky by Li Po The birds have vanished into the sky, and now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains. A cable car ride up Austria’s Zwolferhorn led to this view of the […]
MoreSong by Frank O’Hara Is it dirty does it look dirty that’s what you think of in the city does it just seem dirty that’s what you think of in the city you don’t refuse to breathe do you someone comes along with a very bad character he seems attractive. […]
MoreThe Rest by Lawrence Raab You’ve tried the rest. You’ve waited long enough. Everything catches up with you. And you’re too old, or too young. Or you don’t have the money or you don’t have the time. Maybe you’re shy, and maybe you’re just afraid. How often have you heard […]
MoreIt’s just-spring here in Michigan and each little green shoot is a jigger of encouragement. So is this poem, “Thank You” by Ross Gay, which I left in a pile of dead leaves at the end of a church parking lot. Thank You by Ross Gay If you find yourself half naked and barefoot […]
MoreFile under Best Laid Plans. Nearly two years ago I resolved (publicly, unfortunately) to use up my stash of poems by posting several a week. Of course they’re still here. They’ve even grown in number. All the crinkled slips of paper stuffed in my Poem Elf bag like old underwear—I can’t bear to throw them […]
MoreA Country Epitaph by William Stafford I am the man who plunged through a river to save his dog; who failed my parents, though; who forgot my grief, and sang. Outside your light I stand. I appeal through careless words, I appeal by this casual stone: Was there more I could have […]
MoreValentine’s Day spending is up 6% this year over last even though fewer people are celebrating. Sad! Poems, of course, are the perfect antidote to the menace of all-consuming consumerism slouching towards Bethlehem. Poems cost nothing to give and last forever. Here’s a few to share with your lover, your mother, your friend or […]
MoreTo the mountain of tributes to the great Mary Oliver, I add this little pebble. In a world with so many hysterical people running loose, shouting and fighting and festering outrage, I miss her. Or I miss the idea of her, the poet walking along the shore in her barn jacket, quiet and […]
MoreAlaska With Jess by Jacqueline Zeisloft Whipping past black spruces and white ones, too we weave; fast enough for falling thistles not to land in our hair. I am not cold But you are. Little complainer, I love you. A scarf in August, shielding your soft face, blinding you to the mountains […]
MoreAsk Much, the Voice Suggested by Jane Hirshfield Ask much, the voice suggested, and I startled. Feeling my body like the trembling body of a horse tied to its tree while the strange noise passes over its ears. I who in extremity had always wanted less, even of eating, of sleeping. Agile, the […]
More