You needn't worry about tomorrow:
The lilac has already scented the air
even while you've been asleep
Full moon out walking
her Big Bear -
Ssssh! Don't move!
Moist sand, blue waters, clear sky
I stretch out upon the shore
Two gulls fly by
Accept yourself
Emptying the hours, I shell peas
We part on good terms
knowing well we'll meet again
but still, the tears
A bluejay among plum tree branches -
what song
in my throat, now?
Morning sky holds up its great mirror
and I walk through
one flowering day after another
Rereading some of my poems -
I have missed the point again!
for L.
Waking from a nap, the friend I hadn't
seen in so long, disappears again
Those grains of sand I once sent you
between the love sheets of a long letter
Ten years now, is it?
City's shrouded in fog -
I dance naked
about my room
Pieces of dreams
glimmer on -
empty wishing well
At the cool edge of the stream
I dangle my feet in -
O minnows come nibble on these
for awhile!
Spring rain -
how I thought the daffodils
would never bloom
Some stones skim well on calm water: clear mind
Tired of listening to my poetry,
the cat preens himself
If I came to speak with you of my love
you'd only think me a fool
so I keep my mouth shut
but my writing knows better
Gardenia bud
opens -
hey, now it's my turn
After making love, the moon looks fuller this evening
Pay attention: the water in the shallows
isn't as wet as having to swim
I caught his brown eye -
summer daisy
We are all asleep somehow
in the inner world -
Where is the one
whose brass bell rings true?
Picking burrs from my socks -
A question I left unanswered yesterday
Warehouse cat shits
on cold floor,
keeps winter mice away
Five tulips in a vase -
I stick my nose in one -
Bzzz!
In my ragged morning-robe
dreams unravel
thread by thread
Setting the book aside -
a fragrance -
the magnolia calls out
That is how we grow then:
Between starts and fits
the eye that brings us light
for George and David
We strip down, the sea fits our bodies so well
The path back to my heart now covered with brambles,
I set out
by another route
Birds at dawn -
I hear
their cries -
Awakening!
CONTENTS
The Day After
page 1
Poem Against the Reagan
Administration page 2
At a Rally in
Washington Against the Draft page 2
America Revisited
page 3
Poems for a Small
Place to Rest page 4
page 5 page
6
What He Would Not
Tell Him page 7
Waking Poem
page 7
Moon
page 7
Laborers
page 7
Spring 1980
page 7
Lebanon 1982
page 8
As the Latin
American War Approaches page 8
Poem for
Immediate Disarmament page 8
To Whom It May Concern
page 9
Song of the Little
Girl page 10