Poems

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

Energy

The Times of Israel

My energy has been kidnapped.
It sits in a dark tunnel, and waits,
eyeless in Gaza.

While I, bereft of energy,
sit in my salon and … Read more

Peace

 

Image by Gidon Pico (Pixabay)

You won’t find me in the pin on your chest,
Nor amidst your flags fluttering in the streets.
I escaped the dark abyss long … Read more

Love Letters to a Dying World

For Pope Francis

For years, he had been sending love letters
to his sisters and brothers on this “suffering
planet” warning about the coming disaster,
greenwashed by climate deniers, “bad … Read more

Simchat Torah, 5784

 

On Simchat Torah, we wound the scroll,
four handles between us all
to bear the fallen stone of our story
back to its origin—back to its place

of honour—like … Read more

Preservation

 

The images stand between him and the rest of a life
that began again in the long crossing.

On the edge of a pit, he starts snapping heirlooms.
I … Read more