Flotsam

Reading so many beautiful poems of gratitude and thanks-giving this week, I wanted to share this, from my last book, Crazing: Flotsam The storm drives all ashore—thrown stick with dogteeth, twig of twisted pine, thumbnail jellyfish with dark sails fallen, torn kelp, fouled ballast, soapy olivine foam. Everyone here has the same story. We are…

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The White Queen

The White Queen Comes the White Queen worryingand hurrying to keep up and losingher hairpins. Mind pieces slipout of their sockets. Because it is all held togetherwith hairpins —the old kind, meant to be invisible? And they were invisible.I didn’t know they were there holding my mind togetheruntil I startedto lose it. Someone whose name…

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Fat Time

 Fat Time Under purest ultramarine the raisedgoblets of trees overrun with gold.We should be reeling drunk and portly as groundhogsthrough these windfalls of russet, citron, bronze, chartreuse. Everywhere color pools like butter, like oil of ripe nuts,like piles of oranges under a striped tent. Oh, let us be greedy of eyeball,pigs scuffling in this gorgeous…

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Spring by Cazenovia Creek

Spring by Cazenovia Creek iThe roses have come throughthough some are dead to the ankles.Now, in this cheerful airthey must be feeling painwhere the dead places are stretchedby little flames of juice – when it catches they burnburgundy and green and green. iiGreek Persephonein her dry meadowscould linger, could fritterpicking orchids and anemones but hereearth…