neighbor

neighbor
for Street Psalms: between rocks and hard places

The city rock collection: an installation
(boulders in a nest of rosebushes and thorn shrub)
appears in the usual grassy patches
once held down by crows and cackling human bodies
fidgeting with rolling papers and radio dials,
(w)rapping in the respite of sunshine and branches.
The silhouette an echo of Cascadian skyline
(falling and rising) in curves
and points
at flashes of mockery:::
a landscape crushed by the albatross landing of
stones thrown at the already stoned.

A traveling carnival of attempt interrupts
the green horizon in tragic monument to misspent intent.

From amidst the parable of bramble
on edge
rises
an idea:
We are all
rolling and smoking and high
looking down on smokestack and barge--
the whole story tells itself--
our reflection in the signs of the deaf
economy, an unyielding and aloof parabola
obvious in the geography of rocks and hard won graces.

write hard; die free

On the occasion that a friend has taken a break from one calling to pursue another...
As Brenda Hillman would say: the poems know!
Mer, may the ocean of you keep us awash in shitty first drafts redeemed and reinterpretations of a world with which we grew so bored until you took up the mighty pen!

A prayer to the words, for the words
to Meredith

Blank pages can be
a frightening matter --It takes great courage-- Sweet Jesus.

to conjure the words,,, to order the chaos
to carve out the meaning
...in shifting white sands of wordless deserts
Is it easier with a friend nearby? A silent, judgmental cat of thought
perched in the sill?
Perhaps,...no.

It is an act
:of faith and solitary confinement
:of the line connecting head, heart, hand to larger worlds
:to let the wild thoughts out to roam in the delicate garden of expectations.

So you

gently let the pen dance it's way across,
let the !!! of the key be
and reflect
-even if it is not what you wanted-
it is what you made: yours.
It is your line and you may command it.

So you

Be free courageous conjurer;
Let loose wild thought;
Dance hands and fingers.
Amen.