Tag Archives: poetry

Thatched and lashed with horsehair
thread, even well-built nests
have casualties, tip in a storm,

spill family overboard, and we
remain to make repairs – find reason,
where so often there is none.

If we have love, we have no choice
but to fall with them, over and over
into the void – and we do it,

not to savor grief, but to collect
what parts we can, to piece our nest
back-together again.

                                            – for Alie and Jeff

Rocked by tragedy, we repost this poem for our community. Originally dedicated to Jeff and Alie McKee in December 2010.

Without a script
I am an extra in this movie,
a face on a crowded street
in some big city—
or feathered Indian that dies
dramatically
circling a wagon train West.

                    I drop my rifle,
                    grab my bare chest,
                    lean back and slide
                    down a paint horse hip,
                    tuck my shoulder
                    and roll to a dusty stop—

an expendable example
on the trail to progress.
I used to get by on less,
but I need the money,
so I play the part:

                    grimaces of futility,
                    but in my eyes:
                    open space
                    prior to
                    its improvement.

Water slips along granite
slabs beneath clay, leaks up
at the outcrops, pressed

from mountains of moisture
to find a creek, escapes
into road cuts, makes bogs

of good ideas and waits
beneath a thin crust
for a little respect.

Early morning dew,
a long leafless shadow falls
between young girls grazing,
sprinkled black on green
dreams, a young man’s heaven
that still works a world away
from almost everything.

We had to shout around
the fire, the browning beef,
our quartette of comedy competing
with tree frog symphonies,

layered orchestrations beyond
the edge of dark up to our feet,
interrupting, croaking rudely,
demanding their moment on stage.

It’s how the world works,
taking turns—now is the time
for art—to find the common heart
of humanity that can bring peace.