… When I got home from work Monday afternoon, the news from Boston came over the Internet and spread so quickly that when I went to teach my evening class at PS 188, the security guards were talking about it. You could see on their … Read More →
Category Archives: Moments
In my words, February 11 – 17
… I’ve opened my living room windows letting in refreshing air and the songs of birds rising out of La Plaza. I can recognize three distinct calls, but have no idea to whom they belong. I don’t see the birds either, just branches of trees, … Read More →
In my words, February 4 – 10
My friend Tony came home from work, unlocked his door and saw his cat sitting by the refrigerator, not paying any attention to him as it usually did meeowing its greeting when he came in, but like an Egyptian statue, the silent cat looked straight … Read More →
In my words, January 21 – 27
… Roman augurs … The word inauguration comes from Latin. An augur was a Roman priest who studied the flights of birds to predict the future in their patterns. The prefix in can mean no or not: immeasurable, incomplete, immoral. It can also mean a … Read More →
In my words, January 1 – 6
Over the holidays, a friend was using a new paring knife while making dinner and cut three of her fingers and a thumb. Merry Christmas. Once, when I was a cook, I almost sliced off the top of my left index finger right through the … Read More →
If I Told Him: A Complete Portrait of Picasso
I wanted to make a video poem out of the Caedmon recording of Gertrude Stein reciting If I Told Him. In late May, shortly before it closed, I saw the Stein show at the Met and filmed some of it. You weren’t supposed to film … Read More →
Sonnet 69: Happy children hunted for eggs and went
Happy children hunted for eggs and went Bursting through the bushes. I hurriedly Made love before that unexpectedly Standing up expecting any moment Students who didn’t come. Morning’s over. The afternoon has found a warm bright sun. Today was many people, now they’re none. It … Read More →
Taking Down the Wreath
Light several candles and notice that each candle’s flame is different, like individuals, all flame but none the same. All we can do is flicker and whatever fears and doubts we carry cannot stop us, but merely go along, as we offer the light we … Read More →
The Snake on the Sidewalk (and other snakes as well)
Chico, a graffiti artist on the Lower East Side, recently graced the sidewalk with a rattlesnake. It’s such a friendly looking snake I don’t feel dread or danger walking over it. “Will it bite me?” is a question someone with a guilty conscience would ask. … Read More →
Peace on Earth
Saint Jerome’s translation of the Gospel of Saint Luke, Chapter 2, verse 14 is a direct translation from the original Greek: Gloria in altissimus Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of … Read More →
Sandpiper by Elizabeth Bishop
The roaring alongside he takes for granted, and that every so often the world is bound to shake. He runs, he runs to the south, finical, awkward, in a state of controlled panic, a student of Blake. The beach hisses like fat. On his left, … Read More →
Body Parts (from NY Chronicles 2001)
… Sunday was semi-sunny in spots, Memorial Weekend, Loisaida Day on Avenue C, the day you’re proud to be a Puerto Rican. There were squeals of happy children on the endless ferris wheel and a really good salsa band was playing, gift from Councilwoman Margarita … Read More →