Granola

The day sat like a pie on the windowsill
I could not wait for it to cool
I broke off a piece
And ate it in two bites
The Autobiography of Red and Mozart’s Biography
Then I went down to a breakfast
Of granola, mixed nuts and milk
Slices of banana with raspberries
And when I was done
It was 7AM and time for morning and work
The story of work is another story altogether
I had in mind to tell you only
Of the day before the day

Undertow

They come to visit
Just as they were
After 20, 30, 40 years
Enter our dreams
Pick up their tools
And as they work
Converse as if no time had gone by
As if nothing had happened
Our fathers
We helpless
Our loves as fresh
As when, looking up at their waists
Hands in theirs
We stood before the ocean at sunset
Waking to the fading concussion of waves

Rewind

I will unpack the poetry of a lifetime
Every word I ever wrote
Put them back on the shelves of my mind
Unspeak the verses
Burn the written evidence
Erase the files
Set things ready
So that the next poet
Can start over fresh
And get things right
The way I did
Without encumbrance
Unstring the harp
Uncord the voice
Render the air as clean and empty
As it was before my birth
Rewind back to Eden

Stuck in November

I am stuck in November
This has never happened to me before
Months have always ended
Phases have
But this time there is no song
Of spring in my blood
It looks like I’ll be here forever
OK, it’s just one of the things that happens
Getting stuck in November
Please write if you get a chance

From learning of it in junior high, I have taken seriously Plato’s apothegm: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I have always seen the examination of life in the largest sense as a meditative practice and as perhaps the central purpose, the mission of human life. For me, it is what poetry is. It is also what I found in yoga and Buddhism. For awhile I went to classes and groups, but not being by nature a joiner, I took to practicing each morning on my own, and now find myself meditating while showering, prior to sleeping, when I am evolving what become my poems. It is a habit of mind to put aside all extraneous emotions and daily details to focus on the eternal, to close my eyes and listen to the birds and breezes and chimes and dogs barking and cars on the highway, to concentrate to get to the bottom of a problem, to try to understand as much about us and the world we live in as possible, every day.

Poet first/Then PCMD, teacher, manager/Living a full varied life

To optimize time and influence/Deferred publication, wrote/Average 3 poems a month/For 60 years/Beginning now to share some of my discoveries

Married to Anita 40 years/Have dwelt/explored/worked in HI, IA, MA, CT, IL, & CA/in Eugene, OR these past 10

Have read hundreds of books aloud/Seen more 10,000 movies together/Enjoyed working in each of our gardens

Traveling/Visiting friends/Learning/Connecting