Category Archives: by-the-book

Words

Imagine
Words so plentiful that
Cornucopia does not begin 
To describe their generous abundance
Imagine
Words running long and 
Lush. Never running out, not
Lost in the haze of memory
Imagine
Words that understand every feeling
That picture emotions and
Paint landscapes and color the sky
Imagine

A line reading

Lisa Jewell: The House We Grew Up In,
Lorelei Bird
The tear was precisely
Why she could not get
Rid of that tea towel, it
Was why she loved that
Towel. Its rend made it
Precious. It's what gave
It value, don't you see?
It wasn't destined for the
Bin, or for the rag bag. It
Was special. It's rips and
Tears that make us all so,
Special, don't you see?

Ambiguous

There is nothing ambiguous about

Your grief, the ambiguity is external.

Your grief and mine is a feeling in

Real time. Have no doubts, we are

Not bound by the appearances, the

Optics of our situation. Our loss is

Ever-present. We are not foreseeing

The grief we see, the loss we know

This is not what anticipation looks

Like, except to the outside observer.

Ambiguity and anticipation do not

Define these moments when there

Is loss and grief over that loss. I am

Losing him, moment by moment. He

Is here, that is the appearance and yes

It is true. There will be so much more

To grieve before this ambiguous grief

Is done.

When reptiles ruled

Stumbling over the land, footfalls
Rumbling with the discontent of
Evolution, large animals, their blood
Chilled for life on a tropical planet
Tumbling through history as 
Eons roar through their veins,
Leaving their mark in museums
And in books, in archaeological 
Digs, or our imaginations, out of
Our memories. They were never our
Neighbors, pets or prey nor we
Theirs, their romp through our
Backyards and Jurassic Parks is
The stuff of fiction and movies.
Their tread startling the mire and
Mud, they walk the planet only in
The imagings of small boys or
Grown fantaists who see them a
Loud and menacing presence, as
If reclaiming their past can join it
To ours

Simply put

The stranger and less familiar
The greater the pull. Unusual
Words want me to use them,
To sprinkle them over the top
Like so much sweet garnish
Over common expressions,
Expanding meanings from the
Ordinary, trivial. Meandering 
Far from what you think you're 
Saying to a novel thought on
A different trajectory. You've 
Built a tree of ideas, branches
Alive with the unexpected, the
Consequences of imaginative
Thinking opens adjacent ideas.
Strange and unfamiliar words.
Transform an idiom, so it's ass
Over teakettle with excitement.
Simply put, give it a new verve.

Moon verse

Describe your life in an alternate universe.

I told you about the man who's
Been living on the moon. He has
A source of water so he like we
Stays hydrated. But you didn't ask
About him or his issues with food
On account of there's no cheese
There. You wanted to hear about
My life in an alternate universe not
His. On the moon. My alternates
Are deep in the core of this green
Earth. [Still no cheese.] Truth to tell
Not very green deep in the center
Of the earth, in its beautiful heart.
Life up on top was lusher, greener 
More verdant but that's just being
Redundant. Alternative universes
Swirl among the stars. I am over 
The moon. Somewhere behind 
Our sun and up over the rainbow
We can play dodging black holes
And golf ball sized meteors no 
Longer buried deep inside earth.
This is some alternative to life as
I have known it; as we know it.