Abattoir Time
SamplerThe widower pushed the tailgate shut and fell.
The two sounds –click and thud– seemed synchrony,
As if one in fact were function of the other.
The red calf, bound for veal in the pickup's bed,
Looked rearward over his shoulder. No one…
A Monk After Dark
SamplerOne boot sags dumb like him in a corner.
He drops the other to the floor with a grimace.
He’s still devout. If his face contorts,
It’s from pain in both his shoulders. A nuisance,
Not metaphor. It’s the fruit of labor–
A…
Balloons and Flowers
Sampler–for Goran Simic
I dropped into sleep while reading a book of poems
by the Bosnian friend I write for here. They’re brilliant,
full of red flowers and graves and wrenching accounts
of his homeland during the 90s. They lend some…
Old Leather Suitcase and Me: A Fable
SamplerI found this suitcase slumped in a dark attic corner
like a drunk awash in self- pity. I was Me once.
There’s a burn mark beside one latch. I tell myself,
with a bit of wonder, Me used to smoke in those days.
Indeed– and drink.…
Why Poetry?
SamplerThe following essay is from my forthcoming collection, The Music of What Happens, a compendium of newspaper articles I wrote as Vermont Poet Laureat (2011-2015):
People have often asked me, of course, why I chose poetry as my principal vocation.…
The Singin’ Rage
SamplerFats and Little Richard would come to our rescue,
but before they did I ached for Patti Page,
“The Singin’ Rage,” as the radio deejays dubbed her.
I remember loving “How Much Is that Doggie in the Window?”
And “Mockingbird Hill”–…