Saturday, June 13, 2015

Jane Kenyon: Insomnia



Insomnia

The almost disturbing scent
of peonies presses through the screens,
and I know without looking how
those heavy white heads lean down
under the moon’s light. A cricket chafes
and pauses, chafes and pauses,
as if distracted or preoccupied.

When I open my eyes to document
my sleeplessness by the clock, a point
of greenish light pulses near the ceiling.
A firefly… In childhood I ran out
at dusk, a jar in one hand, lid
pierced with airholes in the other,
getting soaked to the knees
in the long wet grass.

The light moves unsteadily, like someone
whose balance is uncertain after traveling
many hours, coming a long way.
Get up. Get up and let it out.

But I leave it hovering overhead, in case
it’s my father, come back from the dead
to ask, “Why are you still awake? You can
put grass in their jar in the morning,”

                                          Jane Kenyon

Kenyon, Jane. “Insomnia.” Otherwise: New and Selected Poems. Saint Paul, Minnesota: Greywolf Press, 1996. p.138.


Thursday, June 11, 2015

Gary Snyder: Surrounded By Wild Turkeys






Surrounded By Wild Turkeys

Little calls as they pass
through dry forbs and grasses
Under blue oak and gray digger pine
In the warm afternoon of the forest/fire haze;

Twenty or more, long/legged birds
all alike.

So are we, in our soft calling,
passing on through.

Our young, which trail after,

Look just like us.

                                   Gary Snyder

Hass, Robert., ed., “Surrounded By Wild Turkeys”. Poet’s Choice: Poems for Everyday Life. Hopewell, New Jersey, Ecco Press: 1998. p.39.


Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Haiku: Basho and Issa















A bee
staggers out
of the peony.
               Basho














Mosquito at my ear---
does it think
I’m deaf?
                       Issa
















Even with insects
Some can sing,
some can’t.
                 Issa

Hass, Robert., ed. Poet’s Choice: Poems for Everyday Life. Hopewell, New Jersey, Ecco Press: 1998. p.59.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Wendell Berry - Woods












                 Woods

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.
         

                          Wendell Berry

Berry, Wendell. "Woods.". Collected Poems 1957 - 1982. New York: North Point Press, 1964. p. 205.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Wendell Berry - The Lilies

                                                             Jane Meyler











                   The Lilies

Hunting them, a man must sweat, bear
the whine of a mosquito in his ear,
grow thirsty, tired, despair perhaps
of ever finding them, walk a long way.
He must give himself over to chance,
for they live beyond prediction.
He must give himself over to patience,
for they live beyond will. He must be led
along the hill as by a prayer.
If he finds them anywhere, he will find
a few, paired on their stalks,
at ease in the air as souls in bliss.
I found them here at first without hunting,
by grace, as all beauties are first found.
I have hunted and not found them here.
Found, unfound, they breathe their light
into the mind, year after year.


                                             Wendell Berry

Berry, Wendell. "The Lilies.". Collected Poems 1957 - 1982. New York: North Point Press, 1964. p. 205.