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“Unpacking a Globe
I gaze at the Pacific and don’t expect
to ever see the heads on Easter Island,
though I guess at sunlight rippling
the yellow grasses sloping to shore;
yesterday a doe ate grass in the orchard:
it lifted its ears and stopped eating
when it sensed us watching from
a glass hallway—in his sleep, a veteran
sweats, defusing a land mine.
On the globe, I mark the Battle of
the Coral Sea—no one frets at that now.
A poem can never be too dark,
I nod and, staring at the Kenai, hear
ice breaking up along an inlet;
yesterday a coyote trotted across
my headlights and turned his head
but didn’t break stride; that’s how
I want to live on this planet:
alive to a rabbit at a glass door—
and flower where there is no flower.”
―
I gaze at the Pacific and don’t expect
to ever see the heads on Easter Island,
though I guess at sunlight rippling
the yellow grasses sloping to shore;
yesterday a doe ate grass in the orchard:
it lifted its ears and stopped eating
when it sensed us watching from
a glass hallway—in his sleep, a veteran
sweats, defusing a land mine.
On the globe, I mark the Battle of
the Coral Sea—no one frets at that now.
A poem can never be too dark,
I nod and, staring at the Kenai, hear
ice breaking up along an inlet;
yesterday a coyote trotted across
my headlights and turned his head
but didn’t break stride; that’s how
I want to live on this planet:
alive to a rabbit at a glass door—
and flower where there is no flower.”
―
“Poetry has a crucial role to play in our lives, society, and the world. It helps us slow down, hear clearly, see deeply, and envision what matters most in our lives."—Arthur Sze”
―
―
“and you surge at what's enfolded in this world:”
― Sight Lines
― Sight Lines
“Last night, you sped past revolving and flashing
red, blue, and white lights along the road—
a wildfire in the dark; though no one
you knew was taken in the midnight ambulance,
an arrow struck a bull’s-eye and quivered
in its shaft: one minute gratitude rises
like water from an underground lake;
another, dissolution gnaws from a black center.”
― Sight Lines
red, blue, and white lights along the road—
a wildfire in the dark; though no one
you knew was taken in the midnight ambulance,
an arrow struck a bull’s-eye and quivered
in its shaft: one minute gratitude rises
like water from an underground lake;
another, dissolution gnaws from a black center.”
― Sight Lines
“Zunis make shrines on the way to a lake where I emerge and
Miwoks gather me out of pools along the Pacific the cheetah
thirsts for me and when you sprinkle me on rib eye you have
no idea how I balance silence with thunder in crystal”
― Sight Lines
Miwoks gather me out of pools along the Pacific the cheetah
thirsts for me and when you sprinkle me on rib eye you have
no idea how I balance silence with thunder in crystal”
― Sight Lines
“We who must rage and lust,
hurtle zigzagging between cars
in traffic, affirm
the call to abandon illusions
is a call to abandon
a condition that requires illusions”
― Sight Lines
hurtle zigzagging between cars
in traffic, affirm
the call to abandon illusions
is a call to abandon
a condition that requires illusions”
― Sight Lines
“Once is glimpsing the Perseid meteor shower--
and, as emotion curves space, I find
a constellation that arcs beyond the visible.”
― Sight Lines
and, as emotion curves space, I find
a constellation that arcs beyond the visible.”
― Sight Lines
“The day has the tensile strength of silk:
you card the hours, spin them, dip
the skeins in a dye pot, and grief or anger,
pleasure or elation’s the mordant that fixes
the hue.”
― Sight Lines
you card the hours, spin them, dip
the skeins in a dye pot, and grief or anger,
pleasure or elation’s the mordant that fixes
the hue.”
― Sight Lines
“and, as the angle of sunlight shifts, you feel
a seasonal tilt into winter with its expanse
of stars—candles flickering down the Ganges,
where you light a candle on a leaf and set it
flickering, downstream, into darkness—
dozens of tiny flames flickering into darkness—
then you gaze at fires erupting along the shore.”
― Sight Lines
a seasonal tilt into winter with its expanse
of stars—candles flickering down the Ganges,
where you light a candle on a leaf and set it
flickering, downstream, into darkness—
dozens of tiny flames flickering into darkness—
then you gaze at fires erupting along the shore.”
― Sight Lines
“You can travel
to where the Tigris and Euphrates flow together
and admire the inventions of people living
on floating islands of reeds; you can travel
along an archipelago and hike among volcanic
pools steaming with water and sulfuric acid;
but you can’t change the eventual, adamant body.”
― Sight Lines
to where the Tigris and Euphrates flow together
and admire the inventions of people living
on floating islands of reeds; you can travel
along an archipelago and hike among volcanic
pools steaming with water and sulfuric acid;
but you can’t change the eventual, adamant body.”
― Sight Lines
“so many years later, on a coast, waves rolling to shore,
wave after wave,
I see how our lives have unfolded,
a sheen of
wave after whitening wave—”
― Sight Lines
wave after wave,
I see how our lives have unfolded,
a sheen of
wave after whitening wave—”
― Sight Lines
“Astronomers
have observed two black holes colliding;
and, though the waves support relativity,
we need no equation to feel the sprang of space
and time.”
― Sight Lines
have observed two black holes colliding;
and, though the waves support relativity,
we need no equation to feel the sprang of space
and time.”
― Sight Lines
“From this window, he views banana leaves,
an orange tree with five oranges, houses
with shingled roofs, and steps leading
to an upstairs apartment; father off, palm trees,
and, beyond, a sloping street, ocean, sky;
but what line of sight leads to revelation?”
― Sight Lines
an orange tree with five oranges, houses
with shingled roofs, and steps leading
to an upstairs apartment; father off, palm trees,
and, beyond, a sloping street, ocean, sky;
but what line of sight leads to revelation?”
― Sight Lines
“A neighbor brings cucumbers and basil;
when you open the bag and inhale, the world
inside is fire in a night courtyard
at summer solstice”
― Sight Lines
when you open the bag and inhale, the world
inside is fire in a night courtyard
at summer solstice”
― Sight Lines
“you try to root in the world, but events sizzle
along razor wire, along a snapping end of a power line.”
― Sight Lines
along razor wire, along a snapping end of a power line.”
― Sight Lines
“expectancies, fears, yearnings—
hardly bits of colored glass
revolving in a kaleidoscope:
mist rising from a hot spring
along a river”
― Sight Lines
hardly bits of colored glass
revolving in a kaleidoscope:
mist rising from a hot spring
along a river”
― Sight Lines
“Soon
ducks will nest on the pond island, and as
a retired violinist who fed skunks left a legacy--
one she least expected--we fold this
in our pocket and carry it wherever we go.”
― Sight Lines
ducks will nest on the pond island, and as
a retired violinist who fed skunks left a legacy--
one she least expected--we fold this
in our pocket and carry it wherever we go.”
― Sight Lines
“if you slowed you could discover that mosquitoes bat
their wings six hundred times a second and before they mate
synchronize their wings you could feel how they flicker with
desire”
― Sight Lines
their wings six hundred times a second and before they mate
synchronize their wings you could feel how they flicker with
desire”
― Sight Lines
“where are we headed, you wonder, as you pick a lychee and start to peel it--”
― Sight Lines
― Sight Lines
“yesterday a coyote trotted across
my headlights and turned his head
but didn't break stride; that's how
I want to live on this planet:
alive to a rabbit at a glass door--
and flower where there is no flower.”
― Sight Lines
my headlights and turned his head
but didn't break stride; that's how
I want to live on this planet:
alive to a rabbit at a glass door--
and flower where there is no flower.”
― Sight Lines
“the world of being is like this gravel:
you think you own a car, a house,
this blue-zigzagged shirt, but you just borrow these things.
Yesterday, you constructed an aqueduct of dreams
and stood at Gibraltar,
but you possess nothing.”
― Sight Lines
you think you own a car, a house,
this blue-zigzagged shirt, but you just borrow these things.
Yesterday, you constructed an aqueduct of dreams
and stood at Gibraltar,
but you possess nothing.”
― Sight Lines
“when the last speaker of a language dies,
a hue vanishes from the spectrum of visible light.”
― Sight Lines
a hue vanishes from the spectrum of visible light.”
― Sight Lines
“Though death might not come like a curare-
dipped dart blown out of a tube or slam
at you like surf breaking over black lava rock,
it will come—it will come—and it unites us—
brother, sister, boxer, spinner—in this pact,
while you inscribe a letter with trembling hand.”
― Sight Lines
dipped dart blown out of a tube or slam
at you like surf breaking over black lava rock,
it will come—it will come—and it unites us—
brother, sister, boxer, spinner—in this pact,
while you inscribe a letter with trembling hand.”
― Sight Lines
“Porch light illuminating white steps, light
over a garage door, darkness inside windows--
and the darkness exposes the tenuous.”
― Sight Lines
over a garage door, darkness inside windows--
and the darkness exposes the tenuous.”
― Sight Lines
“The call to abandon illusions is a call to abandon a condition which requires illusions.”
― Sight Lines
― Sight Lines
“now I block the past by writing the present--”
― Sight Lines
― Sight Lines
“In the five a.m. dark, a car with bright lights
and hazard lights blinking drives directly at me;
veering across the yellow lines, I pass by it
and exhale: amethyst crystals accrete
on a string: I will live to see pear
blossoms in the orchard, red-winged black-
birds nesting in the cattails”
― Sight Lines
and hazard lights blinking drives directly at me;
veering across the yellow lines, I pass by it
and exhale: amethyst crystals accrete
on a string: I will live to see pear
blossoms in the orchard, red-winged black-
birds nesting in the cattails”
― Sight Lines
“As chlorophyll slips into the roots of a cottonwood
and the leaves burst into yellow gold, I wonder,
where’s our mortal flare?”
― Sight Lines
and the leaves burst into yellow gold, I wonder,
where’s our mortal flare?”
― Sight Lines
