Category Archives: Poems 2014

SACRED SPOTS

Posted on March 2, 2014 by John | Leave a comment

                                There are no unsacred places;
                                there are only sacred places
                                and desecrated places.
                                          – Wendell Berry (“How To Be A Poet”)

We listen with our eyes,
turn pages back, hear
and learn the language

of all-flesh praying.
Certain ceremonies linger
in the air, cling to rocks

thrust up from the earth,
always ready for the sky—
places young boys came

to become men standing
among the Blue Oaks
for generations camped

below. You will know them
when you find them,
when you stop:

sacred spots for gods
to rest and try again
in case we need to pray.

“How To Be A Poet”

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Posted in Poems 2014

Tagged 'How To Be A Poet', poetry, Wendell Berry

WHITE HORSE INN

Posted on February 28, 2014 by John | 3 comments

                                        Oh, the night came undone like a party dress
                                        And fell at her feet in a beautiful mess.
                                                  – Gillian Welch (“Barroom Girls”)

To fit the dark approaching rain,
you play your father’s Martin,
sing Gillian as I hum and harmonize

my relief in low and grateful moans,
learning the words as I go,
reaching for the moment written

to see our separate selves
sparking at the White Horse—
leave this thirsty ground

to replay our connections,
each electric flash saved
in the dark oak bar.

for Robbin

“Barroom Girls”

Oh, the night came undone like a party dress
And fell at her feet in a beautiful mess
The smoke and the whiskey came home in her curls
And they crept through the dreams of the barroom girls

Well, she tosses and turns because the sun is unkind
And the heat of the day is coming in through the blinds
Leave all the blue skies for the rest of the world
Because the neon will shine for the barroom girls

Ah, the barroom girls go by your side
Like the ponies who pass on a carousel ride
And all of the colors go around in a swirl
When you dance in the arms of the barroom girls

Now she rolls to her feet when she can’t sleep no more
Looks at her clothes lying out on the floor
Last night’s spangles and yesterday’s pearls
Are the bright morning stars of the barroom girls

Last night’s spangles and yesterday’s pearls
Are the bright morning stars of the barroom girls

Songwriters
WELCH, GILLIAN HOWARD / RAWLINGS, DAVID TODD

Published by
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, BUG MUSIC

Courtesy: MetroLyrics

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Posted in Poems 2014

Tagged "Barroom Girls", Gillian Welch, poetry, White Horse Inn

AT OUR FEET

Posted on February 26, 2014 by John | Leave a comment

Like loose rocks, discarded
twigs, felt with shuffling
feet—another time of propriety

and flush purpose passed, yet
lingering to trip us up,
slow progress down

and we rest, set-up camp
on running water
and remember what really was

important, how much we cared—
invested in moments
we knew would never last.

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Posted in Poems 2014

Tagged poetry

SEEIN’’S BELIEVIN’

Posted on February 25, 2014 by John | Leave a comment

They’ve been talkin’ rain for days,
singin’ happy tunes like puppets
jerkin’ and jiggin’ on TV

to amuse children after school—
the same promise,
before and after work,

of dessert if you’re patient.
Like dancin’ fools from the shadows
some even proclaim El Niño.

But nowadays,
with the price of hay,
you look a gift horse in the mouth.

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Posted in Poems 2014

ANYWAY

Posted on February 25, 2014 by John | 1 comment

We are well done—
too long on the fire,
too long grinning at the gods

through clenched teeth.
Rocks shine on naked slopes,
dirt and dust have risen

in search of rain. We wear
circles in dry earth
back and forth to water

feeding hay, meet each other
plodding in a daze.
We are well done,

too long laughing
at old age, too long wondering
how tomorrow will look

backwards on today.
We raise another glass
to all this, anyway.

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Posted in Poems 2014

Tagged poetry

LONG BLACK FACES

Posted on February 24, 2014 by John | Leave a comment

She looks into my eyes
exploring behind them
through darkened lenses—

caution and wonder wrinkle
her brow, she hesitates
to wander far.

Others graze the hay truck
like a manger as we stare
at open range

we share. Moments become
minutes, salutations
among hungry girls.

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Posted in Poems 2014

Tagged haiku, poetry

EVELYNNE

Posted on February 22, 2014 by John | 1 comment

Your name was a song
on a young mother’s tongue
for many years after,

her diaphanous dream
of a world as it should be—
everlasting.

Chance or circumstance,
you bathed my naked flesh
with Japanese concepts

whispering yet. A soft
longing melody
on an old woman’s tongue.

for Evelynne Matsumoto

1 Comment

Posted in Poems 2014

Tagged haiku, poetry

O BLESSED RAIN

Posted on February 20, 2014 by John | 2 comments

                                        We hear way off approaching sounds
                                        Of rain on leaves and on the river:
                                        O blessed rain, bring up the grass
                                        To the tongues of the hungry cattle.
                                                  – Wendell Berry (“Sabbaths 2000, VIII”)

Perhaps the old trees grounded in granite
feel it flutter first, out of the southwest—
or the windmill that never lied, spinning

pointing, pumping water. We await
the screaming crescendo of wind rising
on the corner of cedar log ends to be sure—

the Siren’s song that can draw dry souls
from the flesh to fly with the first drops
sounding on the roof, the leaves, the earth.

No finer miracle than that moist moment
of redemption, inhaled and absorbed at once,
bringing grass to the tongues of hungry cattle.

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A ‘promising chance’ is bantered about among local news and weather commentators for next Thursday, Friday and Saturday.