doubt
what if the glass
is not half full
or half empty
or even a glass?
9 May 2013
Auburn AL
Category: Poem-A-Day 2013
NOTE: I wrote this poem while listening to this track for the first time. I recommend listening to it while you read the poem.
Lamru
the boat goes up
the boat goes down
and you are here
and I am here
we are here
as the boat goes up
as the boat goes down
you see the sun
you say the sun
I see the moon
I say the moon
we are on the boat
it goes up and down
you wash your bowl
I wash my bowl
there is tea in the pot
there is no tea in the pot
the boat goes up
the boat goes down
you steer the boat
I steer the boat
into the wind
away from the wind
the shore recedes
until it is gone
the boat goes up
the boat goes down
the boat goes up
the boat goes down
the boat goes
the boat
the
8 May 2013
Auburn AL
everything goes in the hat
everything
that time when you were maybe ten
and your lip was bleeding
from where he punched you
put that in
and then when you realized
you’d made a mistake
because you met the person
who should have been the one
that goes in, too
be sure to put in the way
your grandmother got kinder
at the end and how grandpa
was so quiet anyway but even
quieter before he died
and while you’re at it
you’d better include
those first notes
scribbled on notebook paper
that you still keep
in a styrofoam box with
Saran Wrap on top
they’re 25 years old now
but the ink is still fresh
put in the first time you hugged her
really hugged her
you felt it all the way inside
realized the time had come again
oh, and put in the other ones in between
the one who broke your heart
but not until after she’d fixed it
the ones who never quite got there
or for whom you just weren’t enough
once the hat is full
it’s time for the fun part
stick your hand in
whirl everything around
then, without looking
pull something out
let it float up into the sky
like a balloon with a note tied to it
then reach in and let go of something else
eventually you should end up
with just one thing left
the one who made you realize
you could let the rest go
but that you should hold on to her
7 May 2013
Auburn AL
Click the image to see a larger size.
You can listen to this poem using the player above.
begin to make it better
I learned to play “Hey Jude” for her
a song I never liked all that much
mostly because of that part at the end
where they just keep singing one syllable
and it seems to go on forever
when I learned to play it, though
I was forced to read the words carefully
and I realized in 2013 what most people
figured out all the way back in 1968:
they’re fucking gorgeous
the story is that Paul wrote this song
for John’s son when John and his first wife
were splitting up
although in later years Paul changed his story
so who knows what’s true
it doesn’t matter anyway
the point is that the words are about
dropping your defenses
to admit another into your most sacred space
the words are about not letting your insecurity
or your ego or your uncertainty about the future
prevent you from loving and being loved right now
that I learned to play the song
so I could play it for her
feels like exactly the point
for both of us
5 May 2013
Auburn AL
here minus you equals nowhere
when it ended I was on my own
knocking around by myself
in a basement apartment
I enjoyed it
loud or quiet as I wanted
cooking for myself
being alone
or not being alone
it’s been that way ever since
until you
with no warning
upset my apple cart
sent me reeling
now I sit alone
in my suddenly
too-quiet apartment
wondering when you’ll come back
hoping it will be soon
and that you’ll stay
for a long, long time
4 May 2013
Auburn AL
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results
the first time she told him
he had to Google it
because he didn’t speak
her native language
so he copied her words
pasted them into the search box
waited for the result
like a scientist in a 50s movie
watching the computer spit out
a series of cards with one word each:
I
AM
FALLING
IN
LOVE
WITH
YOU
he read it a dozen times
two dozen
looked through the next few results
to make sure he had it right
it wasn’t until later
when his cheeks started hurting
that he realized he’d been smiling
for hours and hours
3 May 2012
Auburn AL
great minds
I brought her a leaf
from the same kind of tree
as the one under which
we’d first kissed
I thought she’d be surprised
by my creativity
but when I gave it to her
she started laughing
opened the trunk of her car
pulled out an identical leaf
that’s when I knew
2 May 2013
Auburn AL
under a bigleaf magnolia
I can’t identify most trees by name
but I can remember exactly
where we were standing
the first time you kissed me
afterward a friend told me
it was a bigleaf magnolia
a primitive tree, she said
one of the first with flowers
a tree with leaves so big
they sometimes break
their own branches
I know how the magnolia feels
standing in its shade
I thought my heart might leap
through my ribcage
dissolving when it touched the air
and I imagined you opening
your own chest / reaching in
to remove a piece of your heart
so you could share everything with me
1 May 2013
Auburn AL
thread
it’s the feeling of having everything inside you
held back just slightly by the slenderest thread
her hand holds the other end / if she were to pull
all of you would come tumbling out at her feet
every bruise and scrape and missed opportunity
every poor choice and broken promise
every moment of anger or despair or disgust
every time you’d fallen short of yourself
the way you know it’s love is that you want her
to pull the thread, you want her to know
you want her to touch your hand, smile that smile
say it’s going to be OK, that she loves you
not despite your imperfections, but because of them
then she’ll lift her own shirt ever so slightly
show you the thread hanging from her skin
ask you to pull
30 April 2013
Auburn AL
inventory
two turtles
one pond
four hands
four lungs
two hearts
two tongues
four lips
one sun
29 April 2013
Auburn, AL
Spray
my grandma’s standard poodle, Spray
could tell grandma’s cigarettes from Aunt Lynn’s
knew whose slippers to fetch, or which robe
she could speak French, Italian and German
all at the same time, if necessary
in 1967 she appeared on the CBS evening news
with Walter Cronkite, speaking as an expert
on the Vietnam situation, which she likened
to a pack of wild hounds in a yard full of bones
Spray was a notary public, an accomplished
stride pianist and an amateur radio enthusiast
in 1974, after an argument with my grandmother
over the proper cooking time of liver and onions
Spray packed a bag, wrote a farewell note to the family
and walked into the Berkshire County night
28 April 2013
Auburn, AL
tall grass
there’s a place just off the path
where the tall grass is pressed down
fingers scratched from a prickly plant
growing up through the tall grass
hay strewn across the tall grass
caught in hair, on clothing
tall grass bathed in the full moonlight
like a day-for-night shot in a movie
still the next morning the tall grass
retains the shape of the night before
and in the laundry basket there is tall grass
and hay and a prickly plant waiting to be removed
27 April 2013
Auburn AL
migration
there are
a thousand birds
of every color
sprinkled
across the sky
like distant gods
26 April 2013
Auburn AL
/ / /
This poem tried hard to be the beginning of a longer poem, but I just kept coming back to these two stanzas until they felt complete.
Leave a Commenthe said
he said
to her
please
listen
what happened (we)
happens
so rarely
he said
to her
look (at me)
so all
that is
not
this
will go away
25 April 2013
Auburn, AL