Skip to content →

Category: My poems

POEM: What used to be on the jukebox (November Poem-A-Day 20, take 2)

Published 20 November 2010 by Jason Crane

This is my second stab at a “what is right or wrong” poem for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. “Stab” is probably the right verb, too. Ethics, shmethics. Am I right?

What used to be on the jukebox

Happier Than The Morning Sun

crying
into the dishwater

“Every day I searched for the star
that never was in the sky.”

two phones, a satellite, outer space

“Now I see
this star is on the Earth.”

in the western desert
shining out past the neon facades

of the casinos
perfect metaphor for risks taken
losses suffered

the dishwater went cold hours ago

still standing in the kitchen

the song repeats
without mercy, without mercy

the house is time
the house always wins

he leaves empty-handed
wanders into the desert night

Leave a Comment

POEM: The philosopher sits on the mountain top and argues with an echo (November Poem-A-Day 20)

Published 20 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

Poem #20 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. The prompt was to write a poem about what’s wrong or what’s right. I’m not thrilled with this one — it feels trite.

The philosopher sits on the mountain top and argues with an echo

this is wrong
        this is right
this is a mistake
        this is long overdue
this is not how I planned it
        these are choices beyond strategy
this is a turn in the road
        the road is a circle
this is not me
        this is exactly you
this is too painful
        the pain means it’s working
this is a sign of weakness
        this is a sign of recognition
this is the end
        this is the beginning

2 Comments

POEM: She leaves, and takes everything with her

Published 20 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

She leaves, and takes everything with her

So this is what she had felt,
all those years ago.
He hadn’t realized,
hadn’t been able to accept how it hurt
to lose the center of the world.
Now he stood on the pier,
watched her sail away,
felt his soul sink beneath the waves,
to drown in an ocean of tears,
like the poets write about.

One Comment

POEM: Lost and found (November Poem-A-Day 18)

Published 18 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This is poem #18 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt was to write a “lost and found” poem. I decided to use that as the title as well as the inspiration. I posted an audio version of this one, too. That’s something I haven’t done in a while.

Lost and found

I’m not sure how many more times I can rewrite this poem
you were there, then you weren’t
then you were there again, then I wasn’t
then we were both there, but you came only part of the way
into the room

Stevie Wonder has been playing on my stereo all day
the good records, from the period when he had harnessed
all the music in the universe and pressed it onto wax
I dance while doing the dishes, dance while sweeping the floor
my hummingbird heart singing fragments of lost songs

for years my stomach hurt
it hurt every day, often most of the day
doctors put tubes and cameras and chemicals in there
trying to get to the cause
only to discover (years later)
that they were looking at the wrong organ

today my stomach doesn’t hurt, it just vibrates
like a train is running through it
like my spine is wired to the grid
I send out my messengers with their instructions
most never return, or they bring back indifferent tidings
I can hear the distant sounds of warfare

will you come back to me? can you?
is “back” even the right word?
you should have cut down that tree years ago, you told me
before the roots got under the house and cracked the foundation
and its branches threw the bedroom into shadow

now my axe is sharpened
I am standing in the yard
on a cold November night
I await your command
kiss me, and I will swing the blade

Leave a Comment

POEM: Tell my why this happened (November Poem-A-Day 17)

Published 18 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

Poem #17 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt was to write a “tell me why” poem.

Tell me why this happened

Why it took me so long
Why you called
Why time runs in a circle
        but never repeats
Why it took you so long
Why I answered
Why this commercial plays
        over and over
Why last night was different
Why the other nights were the same
Why some are alone, and some are not
Why this hummus tastes like summer
Why it took us so long
Why you called
Why I answered

Leave a Comment

POEM: Weight (November Poem-A-Day 16)

Published 17 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This is poem #16 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. The prompt was to write a “stacking” or “unstacking” poem. I struggled with it until this evening when I was re-watching Unforgivable Blackness – The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a documentary about the first black heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson. Then this came to me.

Weight
(for Jack Johnson)

in this pile are:

nearly one million gallons of African blood

enough wood to put a COLORED sign on every water fountain

with enough trees left over to hang those three-quarter people from

ten thousand or ten times ten thousand children ripped from their mothers

blood snap of the leather whip on the backs of who knows how many

no one knows how many becaue no one bothered to count

and I ask you:

what does this pile weigh?

and who is strong enough to lift it?

Leave a Comment

POEM: Cheerleader

Published 16 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This is not part of the November poem-a-day thing. I wrote it at the basketball game tonight.

Cheerleader

I am waving.
I am waving.
I am waving.
No one is waving back.

Leave a Comment

POEM: You can’t talk your way out of this (November Poem-A-Day 15)

Published 16 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

Poem #15 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt was to write a “just when you thought it was safe” poem.

You can’t talk your way out of this

said the counselor, so I took the pills
let them dissolve into my bloodstream
within a few weeks, the sun
shone outside my bedroom window
and I lost 23 pounds, all from my psyche
I think we’re going to be OK, I told my wife.
I think this time we’re going to be OK.
On the dining room table, my teacup
started shaking. Do you feel that? she asked.
Feel what? I said.

2 Comments

AUDIO: Reading at Hudson Rotary Club (15 Nov 2010)

Published 15 November 2010 by Jason Crane

I read my poetry today as the featured speaker at the Hudson (NY) Rotary Club. Once again, reading to Rotarians proved to be a ton of fun. They were a very attentive and appreciative audience, and they bought all but one of the books I brought. Amazing!

Click on the PLAY button above to hear a complete recording of this 22-minute reading. This is the first time I’ve read exclusively from my book, Unexpected Sunlight. Well, almost exclusively — I did toss in one new poem at the end.

Side note: Charlie, one of the members of the club, came up to me before I read and said, “Have you heard of John Ashbery? He goes to my church and lives here in town.” No pressure!

2 Comments

POEM: Pennsylvania or bust (November Poem-A-Day 14)

Published 14 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This is poem #14 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt was to write a “crossroads” poem.

Pennsylvania or bust

five hours from anywhere
he stares out the bus window
wipes off the occasional
condensation, sign of life
the big buildings of the city
give way to the small towns
on the border then to the
trees and trees and trees
there are still pastures here
acres and acres of land
given over to cows and sheep
he falls asleep as the sun sets
head resting against the window
dreams traveling
in the opposite direction

Leave a Comment

POEM: Stitch (November Poem-A-Day 12)

Published 12 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Listen to this poem using the player above.

Poem #12 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt is to turn some common wisdom, or a common saying, on its head.

Stitch

I kept sewing, frantically,
feeling the cool smooth metal
of the needle between my fingers.

The water was rising – already
at my ankles, then my shins –
and I knew I didn’t have much time.

I could here them crying in the other room,
calling out for me to save them.
I sewed faster.

Normally I would have taken more time,
been more careful, but this time
I was going as fast as possible,

occasionally pricking my finger,
drawing blood that stained the rough cloth
or dripped into the water that was now

at my waist. Faster, faster
my fingers flew, pushing and pulling the
thread through the ripped fabric of time.

To calm myself, I recited their names.
Even in such a stressful situation, I could
remember all nine of them.

The little ones didn’t even know
what was happening. They just sensed
the fear in their brother and sisters.

I knew if I could just finish stitching,
repair the breach in our chronology,
I could stop the merciless water

and we could leave this place.
Waist high. Chest high. At my
shoulders. I held the fabric above my head,

my arms extended toward the bare light bulb.
But it was too late. The water closed over
my head. The crying ceased.

2 Comments

POEM: No One Wants To Stare Down The Barrel Of The Gun (November Poem-A-Day 11)

Published 11 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Poem #11 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. The prompt was to write a “no one wants” poem. Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States, so I decided to write an anti-war poem.

No One Wants To Stare Down The Barrel Of The Gun

No Senator’s child wants to
No Congressmember’s child wants to
No Wall Street titan’s child wants to
No president’s child wants to
No chairman of the board’s child wants to
No governor’s child wants to
No investment banker’s child wants to
No hedge fund manager’s child wants to
No weapons manufacturer’s child wants to
No GE or Lockheed Martin or Boeing executive’s child wants to
No Blackwater mercenary leader’s child wants to
No Fox News commentator’s child wants to
No Glenn Beck disciple’s child wants to
No Tea Party patriot’s child wants to
No driver-with-a-yellow-ribbon’s child wants to
No PTSD sufferer’s child wants to
No homeless veteran’s child wants to
No psychiatrist’s child wants to
No VA doctor’s child wants to
No four-star general’s child wants to
No Chairman of the Joint Chief’s child wants to
No grieving mother’s child wants to
No despondent sister’s child wants to
No welfare recipient’s child wants to
No latchkey child wants to
No working-three-jobs-father’s child wants to
No out-of-work father’s child wants to
No single mother’s child wants to
No woman of color’s child wants to
No poor white person’s child wants to
No rich white person’s child wants to
No double-wide trailer child wants to
No Darien, Connecticut mansion child wants to
No ripped jeans child wants to
No designer jeans child wants to
No subsidized lunch child wants to
No sushi lunch child wants to
No Iraqi child wants to
No Iranian child wants to
No Pakistani child wants to
No Yemeni child wants to
No Afghan child wants to
No Palestinian child wants to
No Israeli child wants to
No American child wants to

Leave a Comment

POEM: A Love Poem (November Poem-A-Day 10)

Published 11 November 2010 by Jason Crane

Poem #10 for the November Poem-A-Day challenge. Today’s prompt was to write a love poem.

A Love Poem

John came
                     down
                               the
                                     stairs

SMILING

holding A Love Supreme

Alice knew
it was a day
unlike other days

4 Comments