Sarah's Life: A Ballade

"The ballade is a fairly complicated verse form with a heavy stress on rhyme. It is an old form. French in origin,...of three stanzas, followed by an envoi (a short final stanza) that addresses an important person and sums up the point of the poem."
--Handbook of Poetic Forms, 21


Sarah died brokenhearted
for the sake of a beloved son
and while Abraham bartered
strange souls of God, a choice cave of Ephron,
Sarah was, at heart, alone.
In her dreams, a bloody knife,
a reckless king, a child's bone --
the span of Sarah's life.

Chosen -- forced -- a life apart
mercy rarely shown
in exchange, a bed too hard --
too beautiful -- unreal conditions
and far from home.
Adrift in tidal winds of strife
so much unknown --
the span of Sarah's life.

While new gold bands adorn her arms,
Rebekah, though also chosen,
chooses. Though offered her part
in God's story, though driven,
she goes, willingly, to Canaan
to become a rich young wife.
She is drawn and she responds.
The span of Sarah's life.

Daughter, reap what our mother has sown --
new mistress of the tent, strive
to surf God's wild stormwinds blown
-- the span of Sarah's life.

need to add to the ballad of Abraham
stuck in the mud of rhyme
and time

Go Yourself Forth Allegory

"An allegory is a story whose characters, things, and happenings have another meaning. Allegories are written to explain ideas about good and evil, or about moral or religious principles."
--Handbook of Poetic Forms, 7

A person was chosen to journey to an unknown home or maybe chose himself (he happened to be a man). It was said he would be blessed and of great name. On that day it was said and only he heard but time would prove the promise true. The person traveled with others whom he loved, among them his beautiful wife. She was chosen to journey (or maybe chose herself) and she endured many hardships. Were they happy? Unknown. They sojourned with some, separated from others. Together they were as barren as dust and warfare filled their tents. And though victorious against kings, their mouths were dry. They split their sacrifices. He congregated in an aisle of blood that he himself spilled. She sat in the mouth of her tent, counting stars. At her insistence, he betrayed her; she chose and her heart turned cold. Their journey seemed to go amiss but in truth it did not. Their names were changed to confuse the demons that plagued their hearts, and they added quiet breath to the letters they claimed. Was it enough? Unknown. He spilled more blood, this time his own, and surely she cried out. A chosen journey gives birth to stars, breathes life into names. A journey chosen reveals the unknown home of the heart and a legacy of dust.

struggling with the allegory of going forth
unsure of the lesson of the command
within us to journey home

Noah Acrostic

"...the basic acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of the lines, read downwards, form a word, phrase, or sentence."
--Handbook of Poetic Forms, 5


Now this is the line
Of all that lives, of all flesh
And the floodgates of the sky burst open
He was blameless in his age
Never again will I doom the earth
Of all that lives, of all flesh
And the floodgates of the sky burst open
He drank of the wine and became drunk
An altar to the Name
Require a reckoning, I will require it
I will see it and remember
God caused a wind to blow
He was blameless in his age
Two each of all flesh
Earth was filled with lawlessness
Of all that lives, of all flesh
Upon the Earth, increase
Some are guilty; all are responsible
Make an opening for daylight in the ark
And the floodgates of the sky burst open
Now this is the line

Beginning Abstract II

(to be spoken aloud)

began create being sweeping said was saw separated. called called was was. said let separate made separated was so. called was was. said let gathered appear was called called saw. said sprout was so brought saw was was. said let separate serve serve shine was. made dominate dominate set dominate separate saw was was said. bring created fly brought saw blessed saying be fill let was was. said bring was. made saw said make rule. created created created blessed said be fill master rule said see give be saw found was was. were finished doing. ceased done blessed declared ceased. done is created.

Beginning Abstract I

"...words are removed from sentences and meaning...words become secondary to their sound..."
--Handbook of Poetic Forms, 1


braised sheet bra Elohim ate hush um my yam vet ha! arrest veer ha! ah! rest hai! ta tofu and vote who and ho! shekel penny to home very ach! Elohim merry hat trick I'll play ha! my hymn

Further - 9/21/10

risers sway underfoot
and yes, it does matter,
but not tonight

tonight we open the door
to the future of confusion
in pursuit of clarity

we pass our songs
to our sleeping children
and cherish our own youthful days

we spread tonight
the veil of hope over our eyes
and play notes of love in the air

A Song for Elul: Grateful Dead - 4-17-72 - I Know You Rider

it was you, and I name you
my god, you happened
and I am amazed

what a gift, a saddle,
to cushion the bumpy ride
into the daily sunset

salt and pepper on a hard-cooked egg
childhood tone poem
a good day's work

Flotilla

the ground is still wet
impelled to be quiet
shivering in the delicious chill

writing lines I don't understand
about plotting to kill others
to wage war and court suffering

true stillness is a hole
that's been filled, a hole
that's been dug in the earth with our hands

filled with the music of machines
the music of motors
and screams of the suffering

to return to silence together
to know we are loved and to love
every human to love

to live in peace
with all creatures
in spite of our urge

against evolved self-control
to not lash out in anger
with violence

to reach and to rise
to do no harm first
to love me and know I love you

if the only limit is your imagination
what's happening? what's not to change the world?
don't pretend to sleep -- run & burrow & breathe deeply

young wife

written in 1995;
posted in celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary

she dreams, coming
home from the market. sacks
swing from her fingers
brush her legs
bump her hips, her skin
anticipates
satisfying her husband's hunger
with her special sauce
and the approaching sunset and tomorrow and tomorrow

honey moon

written in 1995;
posted in celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary

you're a Superman pool toy
on you stretched out belly down
I can fly

you call me green olive
without the pit
you sing tapioca pudding

laughing
the super market will be open
late tonight

a folly foretold

after David Grossman, writing from Jerusalem

how insecure, confused and panicky
the natural continuation of the shameful
prepared to embitter

and somehow, all these calamities
fearfully aware of the mess
becomes ever more inflexible

I would like to believe
above all, this insane operation
typified... freshness, originality, creativity

already there are those
to blame... our shame
however, will be harder

Love Letter

imagine kissing
in a garden near a lemon tree
under twinkling lights

in a forgotten chapel
on a park bench at midnight
in a deserted ballroom

imagine kissing
on a low wall
in the air alive

against a high wall
feeling pressure and hunger
which is desire

to imagine kissing
is release
desire is release

the nature of desire
is not to have
but to want

On Losing CC

thinking about giving in pink ink
about greed and generosity
and community beyond self-interest

having hand-watered the entry garden
this hot spring evening
and taken down the signs

children holding hands, walking forward
into a green, positive future
-- but not on my dime, said the neighbor

so what will become of the neighborhood
that values not sacrifice or service
that values acquisition and politics

and it crops up again and again
in the sound of running sprinklers
despite a forecast of rain

in a lack of lovingkindess
today's children
are shortchanged

awaken neighbor
to the cries outside your window
this hot spring evening

a dream of theater and preaching
stopped my day cold
before it began

and in brown sugar
I hid and in a screen of light
I hid and in your gaze

I will not hide nor will I be
inside your stone tower
or in your heart

Right Now

though the wood would not burn
you sucked bitter sweetness
right down gullet

into belly and pulsating
outwards through limbs and right
out of digits

illuminating space around
your sparkling geode and your colorful eye
your tinctures and your candlesticks

holy bitter sweetness
that is life not as obvious
as one might hope

but true as every written word
inducing faith and passion
holy bitter sweet love

by Emily Dickinson

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.

asked by a stranger on FB
are you TG or GG?
feeling flattered and freaked
and assuredly fabulous

humility
what is that called
candle still burns

redeemable during our season
core power became
anywhere

clearing clutter
clearing mind
creating peace

deep in green mountains
birds and memories
tell the future

winter day gazing
aloe lemon bougainvilla
swaying palms frame a mountaintop

Edward Hirsch on Reading Poetry

not a poem, but a great short interview piece...

http://bigthink.com/edwardhirsch

She Understands Me

by Lucille Clifton (1936-2010)
in grateful memory

it is all blood and breaking,
blood and breaking, the thing
drops out of its box squalling
into the light. they are both squalling,
animal and cage. her bars lie wet, open
and empty and she has made herself again
out of flesh out of dictionaries,
she is always emptying and it is all
the same wound the same blood the same breaking.

The Latest

keeps going left
back to work
in a garden of clouds

hoping not to get caught
in other people's weather
one more time

still awakening last night
while alarms sound ever closer
to the storm

you are a soul
a challenging luxury
not to be complacent

surprised by the heft
but not by ubiquitous voice
or your shadow left in the night

Prayer for Haiti on Shabbat

from lack,
may abundance flourish

from fear,
may strength grow

from destruction,
may compassion and connection 
take flight

a winter meal when you're not home

after e.e. cummings

thick pea soup and a simple omelette
israeli salad

(juicy tomatoes and firm cucumbers
fresh squeezed lemon juice and virgin olive oil
pepper and salt)

and spicy green
tea

Tattoo Stats

found poem with apologies/thanks to Sue Swartz

Approximately 1 in every 4 Americans age 18-50 has a tattoo
This is up from 16% in 2003
No one is keeping numbers on the over-50 crowd
One third of all 18-25 year olds have at least one tattoo
Among the 26-40 age group, it’s 40%
31% of people with tattoos are gay, lesbian or bisexual
34% of people with tattoos feel sexier because they are tattooed
29% feel more rebellious
Democrats are more likely to be tattooed than Republicans,
though the latter are more likely to regret
their decision to be inked