Archive for 2010
NaPoWriMo Day 30: This Old Couch
Friday, April 30th, 2010
sags worse in the middle every year / has stuffing poking out of the cushions / and holes right through the frame / to the floor…
NaPoWriMo Day 29: Modest Mussorgsky, in the Hospital
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
I’ve worked and I’ve watered that musical spark / (at times I have watered too well…), / I’ve hungered for poison, alone in the dark / and burned in a sobering hell…
NaPoWriMo Day 28: The Researcher
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
He spends long evenings poring over brittle yellowed photographs / in libraries and private archives. Sometimes sifting quickly through stacks, / sometimes squinting close into his magnifying glass / at the faces. Hundreds and thousands of faces…
NaPoWriMo Day 27: Prayer Meeting
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
A man behind me keeps saying amen, AMEN / but I can’t tell whether he’s agreeing / or begging for the end.
NaPoWriMo Day 26: Convening of the Arthropoda Philharmonic
Monday, April 26th, 2010
If you listen, you can hear them, right now: / hatching from their eggs in cold brackish pools, wriggling / free of pupae on the undersides of leaves, / stirring from torpor in their nests, / deep inside the earth…
NaPoWriMo Day 25: Interface
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
Point. / Click. / Drag. / Drop. / Browse. / Scroll. / Hover. / Toggle. / Type. / Backspace. / Type. / Copy. / Paste. / Submit. / Escape?
NaPoWriMo Day 24: Anger Management. And Pie.
Saturday, April 24th, 2010
I read you a story last night / about angry hippos, and how fits of temper / can sometimes cause a lot of damage. / A discussion question at the end asked…
NaPoWriMo Day 23: Felix Mendelssohn, as a Parent
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Everything is music to him. / He catalogs even his own children / as tones and instruments. This one is quick swipes / across the high-pitched strings of a violin. / This one, the low buzzing of a bassoon. / This one is an entire horn section.
NaPoWriMo Day 22: Street Puddle on a Clear Night
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
The water gathers here in a wide swath, shallow and still / with stars showing sharp on its unrippled surface, bright / as dandelion seeds catching the sun in a lazy drift…
NaPoWriMo Day 21: Secret Art
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
In the sink there’s a waterlogged / shoebox, with something mysterious / nestled in gray pudding and bark chips…
NaPoWriMo Day 20: Drink Offering
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
I could ask you to spill me out / like wine into the flames / that hisses its vintage / even as it rises, steaming, / to the heavens.
NaPoWriMo Day 19: Sewn
Monday, April 19th, 2010
The needle pounds like a piston, / pierces like a steely knife, / chews through the fabric / faster than I can feed it…
NaPoWriMo Day 18: Doughnut
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
Allen trudges by my desk just before ten, two-fisted with a doughnut and cup of coffee. He stops. Rolls a bite into his cheek. Turns to face me.
NaPoWriMo Day 17: Night Driving
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
Lane lines weave hypnotic threads / across this lonely mountain road. / I fight the spell with coffee, / and thoughts of you.
NaPoWriMo Day 16: The Well-Trained Animal
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Drivers spot him behind the wheel / of her white Subaru wagon, / merging onto the freeway, / head hanging out the window, / tongue snapping in the wind / like a pink pennant…
NaPoWriMo Day 15: Beach Dance
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Here they come, creeping up / behind you again, / olive-black eyes and crayon feet / padding softly over the sand…
NaPoWriMo Day 14: Pardoned Man
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
The mountain of your mercy / defies all perspective… / the further I go from it / the bigger it gets.
NaPoWriMo Day 13: Junior Poet Night
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
My free time today was mostly consumed by last minute tax preparation, so I decided to turn over the writing helm to my boys. I asked each of them to dictate a poem to me while I wrote it down, and here’s what they came up with.
NaPoWriMo Day 12: Rockets Over Kfar Aza
Monday, April 12th, 2010
Today I opted for a photo prompt. I went to Reuters and clicked through the Pictures of the Year from 2009 until I found one that resonated. Here it is…
NaPoWriMo Day 11: Mosquito
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
She hovers near me awkwardly, / choosing a place to plant her kiss. / I’d offer my blood happily / if she didn’t spit in it first.
NaPoWriMo Day 10: How to Potty Train a Zombie (Night-time Edition)
Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Step 1: Know your zombie’s potty schedule and unique needs. Be patient and flexible—bed wetting is sometimes a problem even for the living.
NaPoWriMo Day 9: On the Slopes of Greenleaf Basin
Friday, April 9th, 2010
I remember this place— / this forest of dripping firs, / soaked in the milky fog of morning, / standing in close columns like brushes rinsed / and left to drain over moss-carpeted boulders…
NaPoWriMo Day 8: Pretense
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
This flash of teeth beneath unsmiling eyes / is like a ribbon of fire across coals: / molten gossamer leaving only ashes.
NaPoWriMo Day 7: Sleepers
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
The plastic clacking of the cheap wall clock swells to fill this uncharacteristic stillness. I can hear the faint whistle of air in my own nostrils, and, through the closed window, the first crickets of the season. The boys are asleep…