Deliverance
Splinters of broken thought piercing my skin, Demons dancing in my head, calling names, Sharp-toothed parasites wearing me thin, Gashing into my flesh with stone that maims…
Wild Geese Calling
In the rhythm of the current, cool against my feet descending into deeper pools, the calls of wild geese snatch up my attention. My vision is arrested…
Martha and Mary
She just sat there listening, that was all He wanted, not heavy meals, or deep sighs Of self-martyrdom, just to hear his call Was all he asked…
Faerie Rings
I. Child Spring An impish lad. At first, he’s shy. Leaves little flowers on the lawn for bees to find and make the honey rise with the…
A Kind of Walking
For P & M-A What is it in truth to love another? Surely this Of all things has been expressed, described, Repeated to exhaustion, is in…
No Stone Cast
He fled from me, left me to take the blame, They dragged me out for satisfaction, To cast their sins at scapegoat of ill fame, Readying themselves…
Commentary on a Midrash
Ninety-nine groans tend toward death, but then one calls out for life: maybe you breathe your last breath as pain cries and groans for death; maybe you…
Daughter of Canaan
Waiting in the heavy heat, I look out, For my thin thread of hope, the healing Jew, Who should despise me, yet I do not doubt, That…
Eight Ways of Looking at the Ozarks
After Basho, Buson, and Issa I Even in the Ozark Mountains hearing the bob-white’s call, I long for the Ozarks. II The origin of sound: a frog…
A Rich Man’s Lament
I did nothing, why are you blaming me For that scabby beggar once sat outside What happened to be my gate? Why me? Burning while he stands…
Grand Cayman Storm
A barge looms ghostly on the gray horizon and, like a vision, fades into the storm silently; heavily and patiently into the fast approaching rain. If it…
Samaritan Woman
Heat-trodden hardness stinging into foot, Labouring under sun’s skin-parching glare, Lumbering her water-jug along rut, Carved by those who would despise and stare. Another outcast standing by,…
Piper Alpha
In honour of the 167 who died in the Occidental (Oxy) Piper Alpha oil platform disaster in the North Sea, 6th - 7th July 1988, British, American,…