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  1. TopTop #3241
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Ask Much, The Voice Suggested

    Ask much, the voice suggested, and I startled.
    Feeling my body like the trembling body of a horse
    tied to its tree while the strange noise
    passes over its ears.
    I who in extremity had always wanted less,
    even of eating, of sleeping.
    Agile, the voice did not speak again, but waited.
    "Want more" --
    a cure for longing I had not thought of.
    But that is how it is with wells.
    Whatever is taken refills to the steady level.
    The voice agreed, though softly, to quiet the feet of the horse:
    a cup taken out, a cup reappears; a bucketful taken, a bucket.

    - Jane Hirshfield
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  2. Gratitude expressed by:

  3. TopTop #3242
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Unwritten Note

    The news is on everyone’s lips
    like flies gathering on excrement:
    President Roosevelt has ordered

    our removal. Will we be
    taken from our homes like vermin?
    I know it must be a misunderstanding,

    gossip spread in these
    harsh times. I choke
    on acrid laughter.

    It is not possible.
    After all, I served
    my chosen country in the Army,

    in the Great War. So I go to see
    my longtime friend and sheriff
    of Monterey County.

    Is is no joke, Hideo. You’ll have to go.
    He can’t look me in the eyes.
    When he finds my body hung

    in this rented room, with
    my certificate of honorary citizenship
    expressing honor and respect

    for your loyal and splendid
    service to the country,
    he will understand why

    I could not allow
    this noble country to tarnish
    its honor, or mine.

    - Jodi Hottel


    Today, February 19, is the 75th anniversary of the day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans, two-thirds of whom were citizens.
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  5. TopTop #3243
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    love not fear

    Particles fly like shrapnel out there
    looking for trace — just in case
    bonding makes form
    invisible glue — our maker

    ideas are torn
    shreds disappear
    something new springs
    and the experiment continues

    and . . .
    that’s all there is!
    but within that, we exist

    a wonderful blend
    we like to be called
    emotions swell
    but please, no fluffing the spell

    past and future are spent
    there’s never an end
    ride the circles
    honor love not fear

    - jayro dyer
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  7. TopTop #3244
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    A Sleep of Prisoners

    The human heart can go the lengths of God,
    Dark and cold we may be, but this
    Is no winter now. The frozen misery
    Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move;
    The thunder is the thunder of the floes,
    The thaw, the upstart Spring.
    Thank God our time is now when wrong
    Comes up to face us everywhere.
    Never to leave us till we take
    The longest stride of soul men ever took.
    Affairs are now soul size,
    The enterprise
    Is exploration into God.
    Where are you making for? It takes
    So many thousand years to wake
    But will you wake for pity's sake?

    - Christopher Fry
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  8. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  9. TopTop #3245
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Love Song


    I hear other names for You – The Inviolable One,
    God, Allah, Wakantanka, Higher Power,
    The Ineffable. But why bother,
    when You call to me by no name at all and I come.

    Neither of us have a word for each other
    save Us.
    And even that is nobody’s business but Ours.

    So let’s forget such partitions as names
    and discuss this April day within,
    which captures birds in flight
    and all their eggs and songs
    in one straight deed of liberation.

    The mighty have fallen around this peace.
    But let’s not get into that, when every moment
    is roses, and the scent You gives off tastes
    in my nose like Now.
    Like Forever. Like Now.

    All I want from You is nothing.
    Peace is a dance, after all.
    Peace moves. Peace laughs.
    And Peace’s discussion is boughs of trees,
    light, carriages, actors at their bent,
    bravery in and out of action,
    for after all, what, what, what
    in this world is possibly not roses?

    - Bruce Moody
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  10. Gratitude expressed by 2 members:

  11. TopTop #3246
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Little Boy

    for Donald Trump

    When you speak, I hear
    the child in you demand:

    Make me a golden crown
    Bring me a spotless mirror
    Tell me I an the smartest
    richest, most powerful
    king ever. You like me
    ––don’t you? Don’t You?
    Answer me.

    What is the story

    of the sorrow I hear behind
    the wall of your bravado?
    Did no one welcome your birth?
    Did no one notice the
    miracle of you?

    In your man’s body, you are
    a boy-child who fears
    he will fail, who was not seen
    or heard, whose gifts were
    greeted with disdain.

    I hold in my arms
    the newborn you once were.
    I want you to be cherished,
    not for being the wealthiest,
    cleverest winner,
    but for the wholly human
    you were created to become.

    - Clare Morris
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  12. Gratitude expressed by 6 members:

  13. TopTop #3247

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    This is terrific; just what we need! A great service! Someone has finally said it just right!
    A fellow has been urging me to "pray for the President," and I did, experimentally...but not for the success of his ego! For what you enumerate in your last lines! YES!
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  15. TopTop #3248
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Villanelle for Our Time


    From bitter searching of the heart,
    Quickened with passion and with pain
    We rise to play a greater part.

    This is the faith from which we start:
    Men shall know commonwealth again
    From bitter searching of the heart.

    We loved the easy and the smart,
    But now with keener hand and brain
    We rise to play a greater part.

    The lesser loyalties depart
    And neither race nor creed remain
    From bitter searching of the heart.

    Not steering by the venal chart
    that tricked the mass for private gain,
    We rise to play a greater part.

    Reshaping narrow law and art
    Whose symbols are the millions slain,
    From bitter searching of the heart
    We rise to play a greater part.

    - Frank Scott
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  16. Gratitude expressed by 2 members:

  17. TopTop #3249
    Roland Jacopetti's Avatar
    Roland Jacopetti
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    A great poem. I was introduced to it by Leonard Cohen on his fantastic CD Dear Heather.
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  19. TopTop #3250
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    I Know a Man

    As I sd to my
    friend, because I am
    always talking, - John, I

    sd, which was not his
    name, the darkness sur-
    rounds us, what

    can we do against
    it, or else, shall we &
    why not, buy a goddamn big car,

    drive, he sd, for
    christ’s sake, look
    out where yr going.

    - Robert Creeley
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  20. Gratitude expressed by 5 members:

  21. TopTop #3251
    Roland Jacopetti's Avatar
    Roland Jacopetti
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Creeley was my neighbor in Bolinas in the early '70's. A GREAT American poet!

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    I Know a Man

    As I sd to my
    friend, because I am
    always talking, - John, I

    sd, which was not his
    name, the darkness sur-
    rounds us, what

    can we do against
    it, or else, shall we &
    why not, buy a goddamn big car,

    drive, he sd, for
    christ’s sake, look
    out where yr going.

    - Robert Creeley
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  22. TopTop #3252
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Heritage

    The ram came last
    And Abraham did not know that he
    Came in answer to the boy’s request
    His first strength at the time of the waning day.

    The old man raised his head.
    When he saw that he was not dreaming
    And the angel stood –
    With the knife falling from its hand.

    The child, freed of his bonds
    Saw his father’s back.

    Yitzhak, it is said, was not offered as a sacrifice.
    He lived a very long time,
    Seeing the good, until the light of his eyes dimmed.

    But he bequeathed that hour to his descendents.
    They were born
    With a knife in their heart.


    - Haim Guri
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  23. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  24. TopTop #3253
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    The Wings of Love



    I will row my boat on Muckross Lake when the grey of the dove

    Comes down at the end of the day; and a quiet like prayer

    Grows soft in your eyes, and among your fluttering hair

    The red of the sun is mixed with the red of your cheek.

    I will row you, O boat of my heart! Till our mouths have forgotten to speak

    In the silence of love, broken only by trout that spring

    And are gone, like a fairy’s finger that casts a ring

    With the luck of the world for the hand that can hold it fast.

    I will rest my on my oars, my eyes on your eyes, till our thoughts have passed

    From the lake and the sky and the rings of the jumping fish;

    Till our ears are filled from the reeds with a sudden swish

    And a sound like the beating of flails in the time of corn.

    We shall hold our breath while a wonderful thing is born

    From the songs that were chanted by bards in the days gone by;

    For a wild white swan shall be leaving the lake for the sky,

    With the curve of her neck stretched out in a silver spear.

    Oh! When the creak of her wings shall have brought her near,

    We shall hear again a swish, and a beating of flails,

    And a creaking of oars, and a sound like wind in sails,

    As the mate of her heart shall follow her into the air.

    O wings of my soul! We shall think of Angus and Caer

    And Etain and Midir, that were changed into wild white swans

    To fly round the ring of the heavens, through the dusks and the dawns,

    Unseen by all but true lovers, till judgment day

    Because they had loved for love only. O love! I will say,

    For a woman and man with eternity ringing them round

    And the heavens above and below them, a poor thing it is to be bound

    To four low walls that will spill like a pedlar’s pack,

    And a quilt that will run into holes, and a churn that will dry and crack

    Oh! better than these, a dream in the night, or our heart’s mute prayer

    That O’Donaghue, the enchanted man, should pass between water and air

    And say, I will change them each into a wild white swan,

    Like the lovers Angus and Midir, and their beloved ones, Caer and Etain

    Because they have loved for love only, and have searched through the shadows of things

    For the Heart of all hearts, though the fire of love, and the wine of love, and the wings.



    - James H. Cousins
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  25. Gratitude expressed by 5 members:

  26. TopTop #3254
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    The Lights Are On Everywhere

    The Emperor must not be told night is coming.
    His armies are chasing shadows,
    Arresting whip-poor-wills and hermit thrushes
    And setting towns and villages on fire.

    In the capital, they go around confiscating
    Clocks and watches, burning heretics
    And painting the sunrise above the rooftops
    So we can wish each other good morning.

    The rooster brought in chains is crowing.
    The flowers in the garden have been forced to stay open,
    And still yet dark stains spread over the palace floors
    Which no amount of scrubbing will wipe away.

    - Charles Simic
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  27. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  28. TopTop #3255
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    In the Face of Splendor


    Take your grief seriously
    Become the ash urn
    For the vanishing wilderness
    Despair for the Dolphins
    Make your own salt water
    for the disappearing marshes.
    The silent Earth is listening.
    Be called to outrageous acts of despair

    And then,
    every now and again,
    In the face of splendor,

    Turn towards it.

    - Kristy Hellum
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  29. Gratitude expressed by 5 members:

  30. TopTop #3256
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    What The Living Do

    Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.
    And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up

    waiting for the plumber I still haven’t called. This is the everyday we spoke of.
    It’s winter again: the sky’s a deep, headstrong blue, and the sunlight pours through

    the open living-room windows because the heat’s on too high in here and I can’t turn it off.
    For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,

    I’ve been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday, hurrying along those
    wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,

    I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it.
    Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.

    What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want
    whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss–we want more and more and then more of it.

    But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
    say, the window of the corner video store, and I’m gripped by a cherishing so deep

    for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I’m speechless:
    I am living. I remember you.

    - Marie Howe
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  31. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  32. TopTop #3257
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Message In A Bottle

    I am like the poem
    you passed over in
    the anthology, then
    later discovered
    was a jewel.

    Hidden in plain sight
    I am holding something
    sacred inside
    like a message in a bottle
    still waiting to wash ashore

    - Kay Crista
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  33. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  34. TopTop #3258
    Dorothy Friberg's Avatar
    Dorothy Friberg
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    "hidden in plain sight" is all the loved ones around us who we take for granted.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    Message In A Bottle

    I am like the poem
    you passed over in
    the anthology, then
    later discovered
    was a jewel.

    Hidden in plain sight
    I am holding something
    sacred inside
    like a message in a bottle
    still waiting to wash ashore

    - Kay Crista
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  35. TopTop #3259
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Recipe for Peace

    Bare your feet, roll up your sleeves,
    oil the immigrant’s bowl.
    Open the doors and windows of your house,
    invite in the neighbors, invite in strangers off the street.
    Roll out the dough, add the spices for a good live, cardamom and soul, cumin and tears.
    Store in sesame and sorrow, a dash of salt
    pink as new hope.
    Rub marjoram and thyme, lemon grass and holy basil on your fingers and pat the dough.
    Bless the table, bless the bread,
    bless your hands and feet,
    bless the neighbors and strangers
    off the street.
    Bake the bread for a century or more
    on a moderate heat
    under the olive trees in your backyard
    or on the sun-filled stones of Syria,
    in the white rocks of Beirut
    or behind the walls of Jerusalem.
    In the mountains of Afghanistan
    and in the skyscrapers of New York
    feast with all the migrant tongues
    until your mouth understand
    the taste of many different homes
    and your belly is full so you fall asleep
    cradled in the skirts of the world
    curled in the lap of peace.

    - Devreaux Baker
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  36. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  37. TopTop #3260
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    In Impossible Darkness

    Do you know how

    the caterpillar
    turns?

    Do you remember
    what happens
    inside a cocoon?

    You liquefy.

    There in the thick black
    of your self-spun womb,
    void as the moon before waxing,

    you melt

    (as Christ did
    for three days
    in the tomb)

    conceiving
    in impossible darkness
    the sheer
    inevitability
    of wings.

    - Kim Rosen
    Last edited by Barry; 03-05-2017 at 12:56 PM.
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  38. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  39. TopTop #3261
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Daffodil

    If she could speak

    as she drives her bloom

    to open, would she tell us of
    the roots beneath her,

    who were digging alone all winter
    in frozen soil, sending out

    moaning tendrils reaching into
    the unknown, each one

    sensing in dreams what’s needed
    by the big one, who’s working

    at the surface, chatting and dividing
    in maternal bliss, her big bulb bumping into

    what is already known?
    Would she tell of each

    tough rope of root muscling below
    to find water, sucking and storing,

    offending gophers, outwitting moles?

    I doubt it. The bloom knows

    her source, but she doesn’t speak
    its language. Her voice celebrates

    the silk of longer warmer days,
    announces, in her yellow voice, It is time

    to heave away
    the heavy coat of winter,

    worn out now, and way too small.
    She clamps her neck to her fierce

    rigid stem, who whispers into her throat
    his message from below: Dear, our time is ending.

    It means nothing. We will begin.
    Begin to let go.


    - Mary McMillan
    Last edited by Barry; 03-07-2017 at 11:03 AM.
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  40. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  41. TopTop #3262
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Her Roots


    A strong wind
    wrenched the great Madrone
    from her hold in the hillside,
    and when she fell
    her roots,
    hanging in mid-air,
    gave us handholds
    to lean on and safely swing
    through her body
    and back onto the trail.

    - Trout Black
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  42. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  43. TopTop #3263
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    To Be Of Use

    The people I love the best
    jump into work head first
    without dallying in the shallows
    and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
    They seem to become natives of that element,
    the black sleek heads of seals
    bouncing like half submerged balls.

    I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
    who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
    who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
    who do what has to be done, again and again.

    I want to be with people who submerge
    in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
    and work in a row and pass the bags along,
    who stand in the line and haul in their places,
    who are not parlor generals and field deserters
    but move in a common rhythm
    when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

    The work of the world is common as mud.
    Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
    But the thing worth doing well done
    has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
    Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
    Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
    but you know they were made to be used.
    The pitcher cries for water to carry
    and a person for work that is real.

    - Marge Piercy
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  44. Gratitude expressed by 4 members:

  45. TopTop #3264
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Phenomenal Woman

    Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
    I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
    But when I start to tell them,
    They think I'm telling lies.

    I say,
    It's in the reach of my arms
    The span of my hips,
    The stride of my step,
    The curl of my lips.
    I'm a woman
    Phenomenally.
    Phenomenal woman,
    That's me.
    I walk into a room
    Just as cool as you please,
    And to a man,
    The fellows stand or
    Fall down on their knees.
    Then they swarm around me,
    A hive of honey bees.
    I say,
    It's the fire in my eyes,
    And the flash of my teeth,
    The swing in my waist,
    And the joy in my feet.
    I'm a woman
    Phenomenally.
    Phenomenal woman,
    That's me.
    Men themselves have wondered
    What they see in me.
    They try so much
    But they can't touch
    My inner mystery.
    When I try to show them
    They say they still can't see.
    I say,
    It's in the arch of my back,
    The sun of my smile,
    The ride of my breasts,
    The grace of my style.
    I'm a woman
    Phenomenally.
    Phenomenal woman,
    That's me.
    Now you understand
    Just why my head's not bowed.
    I don't shout or jump about
    Or have to talk real loud.
    When you see me passing
    It ought to make you proud.
    I say,
    It's in the click of my heels,
    The bend of my hair,
    the palm of my hand,
    The need of my care,
    'Cause I'm a woman
    Phenomenally.
    Phenomenal woman,
    That's me.

    - Maya Angelou
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  46. TopTop #3265
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    The River

    I will tell you what I know in my blood
    the river does not vanish into night,
    but is still there, flowing through dark
    to a place that lies beyond: brighter,
    greener hills than we can dream of.

    Listen! You can hear the river’s song
    as it flows over leaf and stone,
    in the clear full music of hearts.

    Those who love enough soon learn to walk
    in rain and remain dry.

    - Bill Herrick
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  47. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  48. TopTop #3266
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Mother to Son

    Well, son, I’ll tell you:
    Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
    It’s had tacks in it,
    And splinters,
    And boards torn up,
    And places with no carpet on the floor—
    Bare.
    But all the time
    I’se been a-climbin’ on,
    And reachin’ landin’s,
    And turnin’ corners,
    And sometimes goin’ in the dark
    Where there ain’t been no light.
    So boy, don’t you turn back.
    Don’t you set down on the steps
    ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
    Don’t you fall now—
    For I’se still goin’, honey,
    I’se still climbin’,
    And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

    - Langston Hughes
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  50. TopTop #3267
    Roland Jacopetti's Avatar
    Roland Jacopetti
     

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Great poem!

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson: View Post
    Mother to Son

    ...
    - Langston Hughes
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  51. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  52. TopTop #3268
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Meeting Light


    Through the windshield, light gleaming
    on the fields, the light green willow leaves
    running along the creeks
    seem brighter set
    against the just beginning greening hills

    dotted with oaks, cows, sheep,
    small clumps of shy-hoofed deer
    chomp in well-manured pastures
    as I, too, stand richly fed.

    Vultures overhead wing soundless circles,
    a perched hawk, red-tailed, its haunting call withdrawn,
    spies smaller prey;
    black wings beat gusts, and clatter
    onto walnut limbs to caw and cackle.

    I loom with the hunter, quail
    with its prey, prattle with companions
    until our souls are full-flush-fleshed.

    By Walker Creek, a thousand white woolen
    eyes crown coyote brush,
    dried fennel stalks drop silent seed
    among these wild ones I flourish and breathe
    under sun-fog-rain sway.

    Coiling bends sound the broadening bay
    whose undulating light ripples peep between,
    lending ease and space
    against the pine-clad ridges
    as gusting sun plays upon my skin into my depths.

    Sprawled on the verge, a car-killed deer
    awaits its airborne team with sharpened smell
    to pick it clean. All seeps, sings and bounds in me.
    Is it the light or the light
    that I am leaving?

    On boughed knees rest old trees sinking
    into softened sod, the turn of seasons watch.
    Their path is slowly set, while mine is filled
    with urgency to laud and praise, give back
    one speck, one jot
    of all you pour into my marrowed bones.

    - Raphael Block
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  53. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  54. TopTop #3269
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Morning Poem


    Every morning
    the world
    is created.
    Under the orange

    sticks of the sun
    the heaped
    ashes of the night
    turn into leaves again

    and fasten themselves to the high branches ---
    and the ponds appear
    like black cloth
    on which are painted islands

    of summer lilies.
    If it is your nature
    to be happy
    you will swim away along the soft trails

    for hours, your imagination
    alighting everywhere.
    And if your spirit
    carries within it

    the thorn
    that is heavier than lead ---
    if it's all you can do
    to keep on trudging ---

    there is still
    somewhere deep within you
    a beast shouting that the earth
    is exactly what it wanted ---

    each pond with its blazing lilies
    is a prayer heard and answered
    lavishly,
    every morning,

    whether or not
    you have ever dared to be happy,
    whether or not
    you have ever dared to pray.

    - Mary Oliver
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  55. Gratitude expressed by 3 members:

  56. TopTop #3270
    Larry Robinson's Avatar
    WaccoBB Poet Laureate

    Re: Poem for the day from Larry Robinson

    Coupon


    Friends,
    In lieu of a poem
    I have written you a
    —COUPON—
    You may clip it out,
    or not,
    slip it in your wallet,
    or not.
    It isn’t redeemable for tangible goods
    &/or services of any sort
    (unless a Goods &/or Service Provider
    should decide to honor it of their own accord,
    it’s always possible…)
    But for my making:
    This coupon is yours to redeem
    from yourself,
    to give yourself a break
    today, any day,
    to make yourself a deal,
    any deal:
    a two-for-one,
    A three-for-a-dollar,
    a get-out-of-your-own-jail-for-free card,
    a take-a-day-off-from-self-doubt-&-self-loathing voucher,
    an hour-free-of-despair zone,
    whatever deal you want to make with yourself,
    whatever you think may be too much to ask of yourself,
    but a little something off the price—
    10%? 50%? 1000%?—
    may help swing the deal,
    Then go ahead, redeem this coupon,
    swing yourself a deal,
    give yourself a break.
    What are you waiting for?

    (Coupon expires only when you do.)

    - Gary Turchin
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  57. Gratitude expressed by 6 members:

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