Thursday, December 15, 2011

December 15 - Sunset at 4:30

Dusk arrives

mid-afternoon, it seems --

this spin to the dark time of the year

has me gasping for light, for air





Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Monday, December 12, 2011

December 12 - Scenes from a Gray Day

Arriving this morning, the building wing

is just a standing wall.

An excavator waits, hungry,

nearby,

to eat up the rest of the building.





Dusk starts at four this close to solstice.

I step out into oddly warm drizzle

this gray, misty, dreamlike

late afternoon.


A reflective stone facing the river behind me.

Friday, December 9, 2011

December 9 - Demolition Day 2

We inhabit brick buildings

As landscapes, enduring --

But they are as mutable, quick to crumble,

As this tender flesh

We are dressed in



Yesterday's demolition of a wing of Norris Hall

Today - just a shell remains of this section




Thursday, December 8, 2011

December 8 - Becoming Rubble

Bite by bite

Of the huge, yellow shovel

These rooms, stairways, windows

Memories

Become rubble





Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

December 6 - Waiting

Staring and staring

Down the snow-flecked street

Does not speed up

This late bus



Thursday, December 1, 2011

December 1 - Frosty Beginning

Ah - it begins!

Morning wind

Has an icy edge. . .

Snow dusts over November's brown ground


Monday, September 19, 2011

September 19



An unexpected gift:

This moment's peace in evening sunshine

On a lake-bound slip of land

While ducks quack, then take flight before me.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

September 16


Saying farewell to you, again, today,

Graying friends from college, poet friends, gather.

You're the first of us to go.

Now, outside, this tree

Turns early toward winter.







Friday, September 16, 2011

September 16


Jacket weather


Faces a touch glum

Our town rocketed, back and forth,

This time of year between the Meditarranean

And northern Canada












September 14, evening


Every Wednesday evening,

As I walk past the Kenosha

(Italian restaurant below, doorway flanked with flowers),

I imagine living there, urban,

Cosmopolitan

Walking up to my flat on the edge of downtown





Wednesday, September 14, 2011

September 14


This morning's chill

(Sapling maples tinged with red)

Makes it clear:

Summer is ending



Monday, September 12, 2011

September 12

Homeward bound on the bus,
Downdown plaza
Lampposts hung with salmon-hued petunias
Balmy air - it seems
Possible for summer to last forever.



Sunday, September 11, 2011

September 11


Worship today is solemn --

We recall horrors

Of ten years before - chaos, bodies falling --

Except - near me at the right,

And farther over to the left,

Babies gurgle, snuffle, speak out --

A counterpoint of new life






Saturday, September 10, 2011

September 10



No better way, this bright, warm,

Mid-day in early fall

To celebrate our anniversary

Than these neighborhood

Yard sales



Friday, September 9, 2011

September 9



Morning sun glints

On the spiderweb strands

Outside my third-floor window

Life abounding, high and low,

All around me



Thursday, September 8, 2011

September 8


Pretending this is Europe:

Perfect afternoon, coffee shop for lunch,

Fountain shooting high, splashing,

Misting into rainbows



Monday, September 5, 2011

September 5

Early September, long weekend ending,

We tilt into Autumn

Slant sunlight in the evening

Brilliant sky, chill in the air 






Friday, September 2, 2011

September 1

Summer's last exhalation - -

Hot, moist, air - -

All around campus,

Broken furniture piled near the streets

While freshman fill the quad,

Eager-faced, eating bag lunches

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

August 1

Sitting in comfort and peace

Summer class, student center movie theater

We hear Cambodian confessions

Of killing field killers - remorseful,

Anguished

Human

Sunday, July 31, 2011

July 31


Back in college again

(Wined, dined, and welcomed to a seminar

With alumni)

How the decades shimmer behind us --

Not melting away, but thinning --

As we name professors, classes,

When we were first here, first adult,

Everything still possible







July 30



What wit and verve,

Imagination, insight,

And humor abound

At this miniature SF/fantasy/horror

Convention!


John Rezmerski - poet, humorist


Joan Slonczewski - new book out: High Frontier

Friday, July 29, 2011

July 29


In the afternoon, going home,

Text from my son:

My old friend's death - too late now

For that talk over old times

My dear, sweet troubadour of the city 


Photo from http://www.thecie.org/mcbride/

July 28


Yes, the river view is lovely

Evening light glows blue

Above river's edge, city profile --

But what am I doing here

In the office?





Thursday, July 28, 2011

July 27

After speeding through four states,

Along river gorges, piney slopes, 

Past rock formations and wide ranch lands,

I return here to my cocoon:
The timeless river of email

Pulls me in







July 26

Campground neighbors, my road

Takes me back to tree-shaded office

And unvaried routine,

While you set off this morning for adventure

(Motorcycle, tent-trailer)

Joyous vagabonds





July 25

Outside the car

Gallatin River rushing alongside

Orange and yellow rafts bumping along the rapids

Inside the car, we are in Oxford

With Harriet and Lord Peter






Sunday, July 24, 2011

July 24

Time traveling,

I reach out to you, young and serene

In the photo --

Now decades behind this Now.

My children never knew you:

Kindest one --

Grandmother.









July 23

It wasn't the vows

That caught my heart, but now,

My brother's tears:

His daughter, white-gowned, veiled,

Dancing into the future