Category Archives: Daily Offerings
Spring
Spring To what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the redness Of little leaves opening stickily. I know what I know. The sun is hot on my neck as … Continue reading
Whatif
Whatif Last night, while I lay thinking here, some Whatifs crawled inside my ear and pranced and partied all night long and sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I’m dumb in school? Whatif they’ve closed the swimming pool? Whatif … Continue reading
Up-Hill
Up-Hill Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end.Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend.But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for … Continue reading
What We Want
What We WantWhat we wantis never simple.We move among the thingswe thought we wanted:a face, a room, an open bookand these things bear our names-now they want us.But what we want appearsin dreams, wearing disguises.We fall past, holding out our … Continue reading
The Thinker
The ThinkerMy wife’s new pink slippers have gay pom-poms.There is not a spot or a stainon their satin toes or their sides.All night they lie together under the bed’s edge.Shivering I catch sight of themand smile, in the morning.Later I watch … Continue reading
Another Poem About My Father
Another Poem About My FatherI don’t get poetry either. Mostly I get cavities,ad mail. Once, I got eleven hundred dollarsin small change from my father for Christmas.He said, you’ve got to work for your money-meaning you’ve got to haul it through … Continue reading
I take your T-shirt to bed again . . .
I take your T-shirt to bed again . . . and by now it has almost lost its scent-your scent, as when you were here and turned towards the wall while I pressed my bodyinto your body and sighed, “You smell … Continue reading
Elevator Music
Elevator MusicA tune with no more substance than the air,performed on underwater instruments,is proper to this short lift from the earth.It hovers as we draw into ourselvesand turn our reverent eyes toward the lightsthat count us to our various destinies.We’re … Continue reading
Sonnet 98
From you have I been absent in the spring (Sonnet 98) From you have I been absent in the spring, When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, Hath put a spirit of youth in everything, That heavy Saturn laughed … Continue reading
blessing the boats
blessing the boats (at St. Mary’s) may the tide that is entering even now the lip of our understanding carry you out beyond the face of fear may you kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it … Continue reading