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YOUR TURN
They said that we onlywanted to tear things down, thingsthat they treasured, wanted to maintain.That was only half true, becausewe knew that to build whatwas needed, you had to tear downwhat was there that would not,could not, be integrated.We did tear down someof those things they valued,but we built things that werebetter for the majority…
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BEAR WITNESS
Some like to say guns don’t killpeople, other people do.But no one I have ever heard ofhas been killed by a volume of poetry,although one man hit by a carcrossing the street without lookingdid have a small book, Howlby Allen Ginsberg, in his back pocket.How many have died by hateor anger this year alone, somenot…
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POSER
For unknown reasons Iwas told I was going tosit for a portrait by a wellknown local artist. It was a gift, so I hadlittle choice but to accept,and so I sat on a chairfrozen in place. I asked how long itwould take and he replied“Not more than four sittingsand then I can go to work.”…
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MILLIMETER
I would love to work for the Postal Service. I don’t want my own route, and I certainly do not have the right temperment for working at the counter. The health insurance is good, and the retirement would be something to look forward to. But I want one job in particular. I want to the…
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BUT
On more than one occasionsomeone has come up to meafter an open mic readingto tell me that they love my work. I am honored and tell them sobut curious as well, since Ionly read two poems, whichhardly counts as my work. I offer to sell them my bookat a substantial discount,but they inevitably tell me“Thanks,…
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NO CLICHES HERE
The birds in this part of Floridahave found a way around the clicheand we are thankful they have done so. As we saw last week whenthe neighbor’s yard was regraded,and before the new sod arrived,the “soil” was mostly sandand there was not a wormto be found anywhere. Yet the birds, early and lategot all they…
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DUSK
There is nothing like, nowords to adequately describe,that moment when a cloud-hazed sun lingers wishfullyjust above the horizon, graspingthe sky with brilliant talonsof light, fearing becominglost in a darkness that will,on this night of the new moon,engulf us all in its inky shroud. We know, or pray, the sunwill return in hours, justas the sun…
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MY LIFE AS A CAT
In my next life I thinkI want to come backas a cat, and not just anycat, but a domesticshorthaired spotted tabby. I have it on good authoritythat there is nothing finerin the animal worldthan being a domesticshorthaired spotted tabby. There will be much workinvolved in the early days,right after adoption, forpeople tend very muchto be…
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YOU, REALLY
Would it surprise you to learnthat like most writers, Ihave spent more than a littleguilty time trying to imaginewhat you look like, what you knowyou should be doingwhile you are reading this poem. And I do wish I couild seeyour face as you read it, knowingit is a conversation whereyou want to speak, to tell…
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ON THE SHELF
He found the cup by the curb one morning walking to the bus. He rarely notice things on his walk, thinking always about the day ahead. But this day he saw it, picked it up and put it in his messenger bag intending to clean it later, when he got home after work. He had…
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an old writer and his words 