Country

Blinded

People. Wonderful, social creatures.
“Smartest species on Earth”,
or so we say. Yet, so easily does reason,
fall apart. Rage and differences,
always blinding Nature’s rebellious youth.

People are attacked. … Read more

He’s Making a List

A year after American politics slid downhill
on a golden escalator, we were at The Whitney.
Urs Fischer’s “Standing Julian” was
melting. The giant Schnabel candle had lost
its head … Read more

The Burning Face

If I believed in hell,
I’d tell you what I saw
was Robert E. Lee’s
bearded face burning
red hot with shame

for giving his heart
to that cause, “the … Read more

Know/unknow

Dall – E image generated by Jeremy Nathan Marks using Bing Chat Enterprise

The thought that God lives in our hearts
and through our bonds with others
is a much … Read more

11-11-11

Slow beauty this morning:
Dried apple gum and parsley
In a glass pasta sauce
Bottle; Steinbeck’s idea of redemption.

Dense clouds make it seem mountainous
But the sharp legs of … Read more

O Greenland! My Greenland!

Your ice thaws,
the shiny shield
that deflects the sun
and protects you from heat.
Frozen for millennia,
it begins its long farewell.

Your permafrost softens—
invulnerable for ages,
it … Read more

Dust and Ashes

Where is Abraham
who knew God better than God knew himself
who reminded God
how it would diminish him not to save
the countless guilty
for the sake of argument … Read more

Mural: October 2023

 Ever since the world ended
There’s no more black-and-white
            -Mose Allison

Image generated by Jeremy Nathan Marks using Bing Chat Enterprise

The candidate with sideburns and cavalier
hair says it’s … Read more

When the Rockets Fall

 

When my son presses the trigger,
a column of flaming hydrogen
shoots from the launch post,
leads a cubic metre
of evening to daylight for an instant.
I am … Read more

Birth

 

You don’t remember what you were
given on the way here … A pale moth
labours sideways across and inter-
section under which you sit listening to,

The National, … Read more

A god so missed a missile

 

It never turns out well when gods doze
    at the universal wheel. I believe in deities
as almost all folks have. From Zeus to Atlas,

all down the hierarchy … Read more

It’s Time

Prayers for Lewiston, Maine

The morning after horror,
at lanes regularly reserved
for just-in-time fun,
the city of Lewiston
remains still,
shocked, and silent —
its streets quiet. Red maples… Read more