In Blackwater Woods

In Blackwater Woods

Look, the treesare turningtheir own bodiesinto pillars of light,are giving off the richfragrance of cinnamonand fulfillment, the long tapersof cattailsare bursting and floating away overthe blue shoulders of the ponds,and every pond,no matter what itsname is, is...
Funeral Blues

Funeral Blues

(Song IX / from Two Songs for Hedli Anderson) Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone.Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,Silence the pianos and with muffled drumBring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning...
Starlings in Winter

Starlings in Winter

Chunky and noisy,but with stars in their black feathers,they spring from the telephone wireand instantly they are acrobatsin the freezing wind.And now, in the theater of air,they swing over buildings, dipping and rising;they float like one stippled starthat...
First Snow

First Snow

First Snow The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty and what the meaning; such an oracular fever! flowing past windows, an energy it seemed would never ebb, never settle less...
The Guest House

The Guest House

The Guest House This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your...