POEM: Red is…

Posted 30 April, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Red is…

the color of the rush
the sound of the audience
the flame behind your eyes
the tingle in the fingertips
the vibration inside
the salt on the tongue
the cast of the rain
the taste of need
the washing over of the past
the end of the tunnel
the soft touch of skin
the hard echo of calling
the turn of the key
the clatter of footsteps
the remains of ashes
the promise unspoken
the thought unvoiced
the blush of truth
the cry of a hawk
the whisper in the hallway

Red is the ringing phone
that is never answered.

Red is the back that turns
to the pounding on the door.

Red is the question that
no answer ever rises to meet.

Red is the waning
of the moon.

POEM: Delaware

Posted 29 April, 2010 in Albany, Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

Delaware

a deer crosses Delaware Avenue
flashing a shock of white-tailed rump
at the convenience store window
Thursday morning commuters jam the brakes
jarred from their talk-radio reverie
into an encounter with the world-as-it-is
this doe stops all the moving metal
the beat of her heart more powerful
than the combustion of the bones
of dinosaurs, explosions that
carry and eradicate the memory of nature

Audio: My set at Poets Speak Loud (4/26/10)

Posted 29 April, 2010 in Albany, Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Listen to the entire set using the player above.

UPDATE: The fine folks at Albany Poets sent me a recording of my set straight from the sound board. It’s higher quality than the recording I made and is now posted above. Enjoy!

Thank you to everyone who came out to see my set tonight at Poets Speak Loud at the Lark Tavern in Albany. I had a fantastic time and was very touched to see so many friendly faces (including the folks who would have been there anyway).

If you missed the gig, here is my set in its entirety. You can listen using the player at the top of this post, or download the mp3 file for later by clicking on Download, right below the player. The first voice you’ll hear is that of Mary Panza, the MC and one of the prime movers behind Albany Poets. Enjoy!

POEM: April

Posted 28 April, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

April

already the sinking of autumn
a rough sack of wet leaves
thrown over the shoulder

sternum aching from bending forward
the slightest cloud across the sun
renews longing

air smells of metal, predicts the coming rain
sidewalkers with downcast eyes
avoid the discomfort of contact

a woman on a concrete bridge
measures the distance to Ophelia’s bed
thinks better of it this day

there’s rosemary for you, that’s for remembrance
there’s fennel for you, and columbines
Ophelia waits, open-eyed

unready, she’s thinking, that’s all
the time will come, my sweet
when I shall cover you up with my watery sheet

Photos from Poets Speak Loud (April 26, 2010)

Posted 28 April, 2010 in Albany, My poems, Poetry

I’ll be adding to this album as more photos come in. Here are the first few from the reading.

POEM: Water

Posted 27 April, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

Water
(for Carolee and Jill)

all my poems are wet
soaked through with tears
of realization come too late

before the ink is dry
as my pen lifts from the paper
my eyes well up and it starts again

every missed connection
every just-closed train door
every unreturned smile

there are never enough pages
to soak it all up, to absorb all these years
why does it take so long to cross this river?

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