Let us go watch a short video
Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious […]
MoreDiagnosis in, treatment up to you
What the Doctor Said by Ray Carver He said it doesn’t look good he said it looks bad in fact real bad he said I counted thirty-two of them on one lung before I quit counting them I said I’m glad I wouldn’t want to know about any more being there than that […]
MoreLove vs. the ignorant armies
Saturday night I put this tiny excerpt from Matthew Arnold’s famous “Dover Beach” in a Toronto elevator. I was going to post it to my Twitter feed on Sunday. But then Sunday happened, and I just couldn’t post anything that had the word “sweet” in it. Although I imagine the air in Orlando […]
MoreSeduction at the ATM
Hard to believe I’ve never left a poem at an ATM before. I rectified that situation today when I taped an excerpt from C.H. Sisson’s “Money” to a drive-through ATM. You can read the complete poem here.
MoreLost and Lonely
I set out on my cross country skis with a snippet of a Wordsworth poem. (The poem is actually set in spring—see full version below—but the opening lines seemed to belong to the wide and empty expanse of a golf course off-season.) I got my close-in shot: But when I backed off for the long shot, […]
MoreTweets for the non-twittering
I’m a lacksadaisical tweeter. A now-and-then and if-the-mood-strikes-me user of social media. Which is why I only have 65 followers. That’s ten less people than I follow myself. This post isn’t a plug for my twitter feed (I tried that here before and it didn’t help). It’s an announcement that I’m going to start posting some […]
MoreTwo suggestions
If you’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more Poem Elf (and you’ve already had all the cow bell you can take)– –Or– if you like poetry in very small doses and you don’t like reading long blog posts– –I have a suggestion for you. Follow me on Twitter. @Poemelf […]
MoreToothbrushes and other luxuries
Expect Nothing by Alice Walker Expect nothing. Live frugally On surprise. become a stranger To need of pity Or, if compassion be freely Given out Take only enough Stop short of urge to plead Then purge away the need. Wish for nothing larger Than your own small heart Or greater than a […]
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