Poems

Chanting

How did it begin and when. At first I was alone wandering down the street looking for something. Then came the drums the shouts the horses the men. It was a big parade and everyone marching was shouting and the crowd was the one man and the one man the crowd. They...

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Jumper I at the World Trade Center

If you saw me at all you must have seen me falling as a dark image against a white sky legs scissor out and wondered if you imagined me or if I existed like you but was falling through thousands of feet of air as if I were swimming towards the pavement through water...

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Change

You cannot find the word you need. The sun is shining/ your shades are down. When you wake /you want to sleep.   The afternoon light is dirtied with indifference Nights filled to the brim with grief.

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For the 10 year old girl from Syria

For the 10 year old girl from Syria

The mirror stopped laughing when the bullets shattered the window. Shards of glass flew through the startled air. Familiar voices stopped when the wires were cut. Description fled in dust. It was the end of metaphor. You huddled on the floor in the dark arms of...

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For Earl Thompson (Yakima Indian nation)

He tried to see red and blue horses galloping across a plain, but the horses would not come. His wife was crying by his side. He thought if he saw them he would live to see another day. It was a full moon night in April, and the willows were about to bud. He tried to...

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For the gardener who is gone

The dried stalks of the sunflowers are snapped in half, and the wooden slats of the porch are split and broken. Fake spider webs are draped across the columns of the porch, and a plastic skeleton hangs from the branch of a tree. The front door is half open but blocked...

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From a forthcoming title: Daybook II —

Horoscope 1/6/2015 Repetition goes nowhere. The right furniture makes no difference. When you own too much you stumble. Distance does not breed fondness likely means something else. William Stafford said, It is always good to have a little song to hum to yourself....

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Writer and Agent

Writer: Mr. Dupane, I am honored to meet you. Agent: Stop the bullshit. Every writer is dying to get me as their literary agent. You have ten minutes to make your case. Writer: What I have is unique. Agent: Sure. Blah Blah. Every writer says the same thing. You all...

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For Eli Bodi Enzer
Gapstow Bridge

You asked us to take you for a walk in Central Park because you wanted to see the change in season. By then you leaned on a cane and stumbled. We walked on either side. You looked like an ancient monk, but this was no Chinese painting. The weeping willows bent low...

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