snow
falls
on
the
slow
moving
river
in
the
soft
woods
a
mourning
dove
The photograph is mine.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Your Hat
... somewhere between Fargo and Sioux City
... you asked me if I liked your hat
... I didn't say no ... your Mozart eyes ... your sad smile
Photograph by Gilen Linn
Saturday, October 29, 2016
By the Lilacs
... behind the Carnegie Library / you took my picture by the lilacs
... I was wearing your chambray shirt
... it was spring ... I thought I loved you
Photograph by Poppy Barach
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The Great Divide
... in cutoffs and indian cotton I stand on the great divide
... the summer before the legend
... before I knew the secret / the famous lie
Photograph by Gilen Linn
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Marigolds
... immersed in autumn / I walk around my yard
... mushrooms
... maples
... the marigolds last breath
Photograph Pam Ullman
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Blackjack
... fourteen years old
... the cabin on birch lake
... playing blackjack for kisses
Photograph by Harry Finch
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Baskets Return to the Grass
... baskets return to the grass / pots become sherds
... still, we walk through meadows
... gather white clay along the creek
Image: Claire Basler
Monday, September 5, 2016
Climbing the Great Wall
last night
a black bear
ran
through the roses
again, I was a Tibetan boy
climbing
the Great Wall
Monday, August 8, 2016
As I Drive
... on the key ring you made for me
... a silver bear claw
... a lock of buffalo hair / softly brushing my knee
Friday, August 5, 2016
When I Was Young
... when I was young a vast plain of days lay before me
... corrections could be made
now ... there's a path in the woods
... the sound of the river
Painting by James McLaughlin Way
Sunday, July 31, 2016
A Week Before Fifth Grade
... and threw me off
... my arm in a cast / mother sat at the foot of my bed ... sang away the pain
Photograph by Julian Mofteescu
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
In Dreams
... you're gone ... but we watch for each other in dreams
... in the lobby of the hotel
... you turn to me and say ....... there you are
Image by Mara Light
Monday, May 30, 2016
Years Later
... the small town theater of my childhood stands in charred silence
... Tootsie still on the marquee
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
On a Montana Backroad
... on a Montana backroad a black bear scratches his name
... along the riverbank ..... wild iris
Image: Kath Williamson
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
The Phone Rings
... the phone rings
... but this stone on my chest won't let me answer
... I sit quietly
... watch a sparrow build her nest above my door
Image: Pier Toffoletti
Monday, April 18, 2016
Just This Morning
... during my nap beneath my living room window
... I was thinking the very same thing
Saturday, April 16, 2016
What the World Already Knows
... where river road meets the highway two swans appear in the soft grey morning light
... they follow my car to the bridge ... return to the river
... sometimes our minds need to catch up to what the world already knows
Thursday, April 14, 2016
The Way You Kissed Me
... the way you kissed me when we hadn't seen each other in years
... how ... in my hesitation you said
... I think we've waited long enough
Photograph: GK Hart / Vikki Hart
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Looking Out the Window
... looking out the window of this motel room / listening to you sing in the shower
... knowing we can never tell our story
Image by Loui Jover
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Letters
... one hundred fifteen letters
Sunday, February 7, 2016
This Land I Walk
... my respite ... and my sorrow
... beneath the sunbright pine // tiny rib bones
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Out of the Grey
... out of the grey / five swans ... one / then four alone
Written with Cletis L Stump
Thursday, January 7, 2016
On Desolation Peak
... in a lookout above the treeline
... the caw of a crow / the clack of the typewriter
Photograph by David Pluth
Saturday, December 26, 2015
The Weight of Winter
... after the storm ... pine boughs bend beneath the weight of winter
... ruffed grouse rest in blue silence
Photograph by Montucky: montucky.wordpress.com/
Saturday, December 12, 2015
In My Seventh Summer
... between the boards
... a tiny spot of sunlight ... on the water far below
Friday, December 11, 2015
On Pine Mountain
while my father hunts grouse
I explore the cabin
lying on the bunk
standing at the woodstove
trying out my future self
Photograph by raphasantos
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
In the Buffalo's Eye
... in the buffalo's eye
... all my memories / all our earthly history
... the planet earth itself
... rolling through dark and infinite space
The photograph is mine, taken in South Dakota.
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Bohemians
... early courtship / early marriage ... early everything
... including this solo life I've settled into ... my dog / the deer
... and these Bohemian Waxwings who've come to spend the afternoon with me
... eating berries / spitting seeds ... acting cool in their slicked-back hair
Photograph by Natalia Paklina and Chris van Orden
Friday, December 4, 2015
In the Woods at Dawn
a hoot owl calls ...
the soft grey sound of loss
Photograph by Hans Bertrand
Photograph by Hans Bertrand
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
The Things We Leave Behind
do you remember the day we left the lodge
walked into the woods
your family still around the table
noisily remembering all they could get their hands on
how we made love in the snow
my back against the tree / you leaning into me
so often they are the same
the things we leave behind / the things we carry
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