Jackie’s Reviews > New Collected Poems > Status Update

I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees.
Though I am silent
there is singing around me.
Though I am dark
there is vision around me.
Though I am heavy
there is flight around me.

"One faith is bondage. Two
are free. In the trust
of old love, cultivation shows
a dark graceful wilderness
at its heart. Wild
in that darkness, we roam
the distances of our faith,
safe beyond the bounds
of what we know. O love,
open. Show me
my country. Take me home."

Trying to sleep, I cannot
take my mind away.
The bright day

shines in my head
like a coin
on the bed of a stream.

fox tracks in the snow, the impact
of lightness upon lightness,
unendingly silent.

III
If a man finds it necessary to eat garbage, he should resist the temptation to call it a delicacy.

IV
Don’t pray for the rain to stop. Pray for good luck fishing when the river floods.

V
Don’t own so much clutter that you’ll be relieved to see your house catch fire.

I see that my mind is not good enough.
I see that I am eager to own the earth and to own men.
I find in my mouth a bitter taste of money,
a gaping syllable I can neither swallow nor spit out.
I see all that we have ruined in order to have, all
that was owned for a lifetime to be destroyed forever.

Where are the sleeps that escape such dreams?