Category Archives: My Poetry

Sonnet 1

… I started to write sonnets in April of 2003. That March, George Bush with the approval of Congress and a whole lot of American people invaded Iraq. I was very opposed to this at the time and still am. … Continue reading →

Yangtze Sonnet: 135

26 Apr ’11

… I took a trip through the Three Gorges in August of 2006 after teaching classes at the University of Wuhan for the month of July. I went with some of my teacher colleagues. Here is the first sonnet on … Continue reading →

Sonnets 1 – 30

9 Mar ’11

… 1 Looking at the springs, sitting in the sun something at my nape begins to tickle like the wind’s moving a hair there, fickle on my bare neck between the scalp and trunk. I’m reading the poet Bill Kushner—Ah! … Continue reading →

Kiss

13 Feb ’11

… Sonnet 56 Love comes when least expected and love comes like the rain blowing naked over us making us all wet. Love never makes a fuss. As I grow old, love stays forever young returning like the sun or … Continue reading →

Sonnet 84

16 Jan ’11

… 84 My only brother with his bulldozer pushed the brush away from the day lilies uprooting thorns and sumac completely around the bed revealing for Mother those common flowers in all their glory. Now if only she’ll come to … Continue reading →

Chapbooks: Words are Birds

21 Dec ’10

… I am making chapbooks of poetry I wrote in the 70s when I was in my 20s. They are out of print. I saw online that someone in England was selling a copy of Poet Laundromat for $200. I’m … Continue reading →

a mouth sewn shut

24 Nov ’10

… I want to begin making little videos of poems that I’ve done. Here is the first one. I wrote it when I was 21. It was for a friend who had put me up for a while and I … Continue reading →

143

22 Oct ’10

… Goldfinch balanced on the sunflower’s head Flies off swaying the plant just like the wind. The sun comes up the trees and lies down in The field where a red hawk begins to spread Its great slow wings breaking … Continue reading →

106

5 Oct ’10

… Today I picked Uncle Al’s tomatoes for the last time. Many were over ripe rotten, had cracked or fallen. I was tired but constant and making an effort to exercise, bent holding my abdomen in reaching into the vines … Continue reading →

104

3 Oct ’10

… Swallows gather on the electric wire One after the other in a row. I Approach as some fly up and swarm the sky Hundreds of them sweeping out. I’m inspired Watching them burst and swoop and blend and flow … Continue reading →

35

2 Oct ’10

… A little spider on the written page Looks up at me. I do not bother her Nor does she me where I have come to lay Myself down in the grass like a brother Queen Anne’s Lace crowning our … Continue reading →

105

1 Oct ’10

… I let down the umbrella on the dock Enclosing the wasps inside who’ve summered Up in the ribs. I had to do it. Not Only is it sunset but September The summer is almost over and I Must go … Continue reading →