: Being everyone else They told me to be myself That everyone else was taken But I’m taken With everyone else No one ever …
: Taking I open the pores of my skin to receive, cupping myself like hands begging, like petals opening in a …
: Bamboozled I’m losing my grip on what’s been gripping me Losing hold of what I’m holding onto Up to here with …
: Turning myself in I’m not sure when I handed myself over Turning myself in Consenting to holy matrimony To this …
: Strong You can’t promise your heart to anything I’ve tried. It refuses to be bartered And your eyes, they …
: Medicine I’m not sure how I would have cracked my heart open wide enough to let all of me in If you hadn’t …
: If you really knew me If you really knew me, you would know the parts of me buried so deep that I don’t even remember that …
: Retreat Reflection The longer I spend seeking spiritual realization, the less I have any idea what I’m up to. I’m …
: The Sisyphean Dilemma Sisyphus. Condemned king of legend. Trickster who deceived the gods. He’s like the O.J. Simpson of …
: Bound First, you must be yourself Entirely yourself You must be more real to you Than the world You must …
: Righteous When I was growing up, there was something we called sin And there was someone. Someone we called …
: Secret I will walk under the golden willow bow And be content I will run in the bracing morning And be …
: Magic eye When I “get” something I didn’t see before about being human, it feels like being let in on a joke, …
: No beautiful poems I have never met a beautiful poem. A poem is like an old, bedridden man growling at a young boy to …
: Love is breathing People told me about love. They painted it in many colors. They sang songs about love. But the wise …
: Becoming art When I captured the moment, I made art. When I surrendered to the moment, I became art.
: I don’t know anything. But when I listen deeply, I know what to do. How to move. How to breathe. …
: Orientation Lying in your bed Do you know the direction From which the sun rises Outside your window Which tree …
: Holes Had A piece of Of time To divvy Into cream puff days Had my share of love To squander All along the …
: problem you (Lyric) look at yourself livin’ every day like a lie i guess you buried the goods leaving nothing to …
: The Bear You’ll wait here a long time In the closeness of the vault You need nothing But this body Fat with …
: Meaning A man with a bad leg And a cocaine habit Ordered the butchering Of millions of people It’s not …
: Show off If I’m being honest I want to perform for you To take a bow To be a dancer Or to be the dance It’s …
: Close Come close To the hollow drum Inside of which beats your heart Get intimate with the gripping Only …
: Resolve I resolved then To ask nothing of anyone I would rather lie in the shade At the end of summer And …
: Sunburn You keep looking for a way out A way out of a question Into a wide open field Busy with the droning …
: I resolved then To ask nothing of anyone I would rather lie in the shade At the end of summer And …
: The lost place i wrote some time ago that I want to be lost sometimes it happens on threadbare days that I slip out …
: Silly I am reading The Zen of Creativity by John Loori, who liberally sites great contemplatives and …
: Harriet Always remember that you have a history And that it is older than you are They built a Zen monastery …
: Lithe When you don’t inhabit yourself You cannot be in the world When you inhabit only yourself You are …
: Roots I want to be lost To cut away the cords that hold me here Encased in this form, like glass To melt …
: Rites of Spring When the leaves turn at first frost—a crimson tide rolling vertically down the continent on its …
: Wild Thing Speaking as mind, said the heart I do not trust you Speaking as heart, replied the mind I do not …
: Summer I did not count the hours of day In the hot sun, submerged in tall grasses Where the grasshopper …
: The Woodpecker Today the woodpecker Who has been gone all winter Is back We’ve missed her But still, she doesn’t …
: The house of the wind Already, we seem to have faded Hundreds of years blind the morning of our innocence I will sit in …
: Innocence Not all hearts are still capable of breaking Over a lover Over a friend Over loss, inevitable as …
: The Institute The institute is hidden from view by an abrupt fold in the ground, around which the road veers …
: Introduction to Willa Cather's My Antonia See link to recording here
: Practice (lyric) I wanted a friend You wanted one too But you know, it’s not that easy I wanted your time And …
: Travel Log When we learn in adulthood That which, under kinder circumstances, We would have learned much …
: ok (lyric) i think we’re gonna come through i think we’ll be ok i think we’re gonna come through get up …
: with me i feel your indecision like a gloved hand tell me, of all the voices in contention, were any of them …
: Listen Don’t write what needs to be written Just say what you need to say When the mother gives her breast …
: Both Sides sometimes you’re on this side other times, the other side you remember suddenly the feeling of …
: the desert (lyric) we’re just kids lying on the trampoline and the stars seem so far away throwing darts now …
: Invited the wild geese departing circle like children gathering in tattered bands calling to each other …
: Dry Lands And so I learned to love the dry lands For its savagery And the great sky
: Explanations My anger is poetry It deserves of like reply Don’t pester me with explanations You weave too fine a …
: Gently I give you the earth But only to love Even this body They said, do not go gently into that goodnight …
: Outside Outside the sodden window He is calling, again and again Explosions of enthusiasm for one more day …
: A friend The sun is bright and thin. A winter sun. The sky is chalky at the edges, but the foothills seem …
: Inarticulate I only write with my back against a wall. It’s a ritual of purification. A blood-letting, predicated …
: Recant “Just fucking read it to me” he yells, punctuating the expletive with an open palmed slap of both …
: Trust When the leaves turn at first frost—a tide of gold and crimson rolling vertically down the …
: Jasper I made camp on the borders of a small lake about five miles up Hessie trail at the base of Devils …
: Thanks I hope, in the end, my life will read like this: “Thanks for the chance to hangout for a while. I …
: Shirtless He did not believe in pain That holy sacrament And ever after When they asked of him, Wandering in …
: Rain Dusk spread its wings. “god it’s cold” I said. “yes”, she agreed, “it’s cold alright. So why are we …
: Dormant I count the months like highway mile markers. Summer turned to fall gives way to winter. Six months …