Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The final in this series of poetry at my feet -- On The Anniversary of My Death by W. s. Merwin

 

 

And so it ends...

 

For the Anniversary of My Death

BY W. S. MERWIN
Every year without knowing it I have passed the day

When the last fires will wave to me

And the silence will set out

Tireless traveler

Like the beam of a lightless star


Then I will no longer

Find myself in life as in a strange garment

Surprised at the earth

And the love of one woman

And the shamelessness of men

As today writing after three days of rain

Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease

And bowing not knowing to what

 

 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Poetic Feet Selfie 6 ~~~> Biopsy by Patricia Roth Schwartz

Not sure of all the bricks to catch my eye, why this one did, but it did. It took me to a poem where I was reminded that after news arrives, life can be familiar. Seeing the sun always helps as well.

Biopsy

After three leaden turns on no-sun, it comes;
one call splits the rest of your life off
from the whole like a calf from a glacier. Even
so the kitchen's full of light and the scent
of vanilla and apple. The dog's dancing at
the door ahead of her walk down the neighboring
road where she's got a friend, another dog whose
name you don't know. Along the ditch at the cornfield's
sere edge, where silver-bellied birds gorge on fallen
stalks, you watch the two of them mock/ growl, leap,
play/ fight, frolic, as if there were no before or after.

By Patricia Roth Schwartz

 

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Poetic Feet Selfie 5 ~~~> The Angels of the Radiators by A. Poulin Jr.

The Angels of Radiators

Every night when my wife
and daughter are asleep
and I'm alone in this old house
lost in landscapes somewhere
between the points of stars,
my furnace fails like heaven.

The water that will turn
to steam and turn to heat
and rise as grace runs out.
In unlighted corners, angles
opening to blank space,
radiators, cold and white,
are silent and dead angels,
incarnate where they fell.

Every night, every winter,
I have to go down cellar,
turn the valve until the gauge
is full of water once again,
until the furnace starts
to rumble with its resurrection.
Then the house begins to move,
and through the winter night
that threatens us like Hell, by God,
the pure spirit of the fire roars
blue, veins ring, and radiators,
a whole chorus of Dominions, sing
and dance wild alleluias warm as spring.

"The Angels of the Radiators" is from Selected Poems.

As seen on The Poet Walk, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

 

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Poetic feet selfie 4 ~~> For This Thanks a poem by Sam Abrams

 

Day four. Searching the words at my feet brought me a title. The entire poem had been read that day in Rochester.

 

For This Thanks **This poem are carved into a granite band.**

heaven on our earth
hopscotch chalked on the sidewalk
dance! dear goddess hop! skip!

By Sam Abrams


 

Friday, January 23, 2015

Poetic feet selfie #3 ~~~ Our Family Tree By Joseph Cephas Holly

Our Family Tree

By Joseph Cephas Holly (1825-1855)

On the death of my sister Cecilia—the last of five members of the family, who died successively.

Our family tree is in the sear

And yellow leaf of life;

Branch after branch, year after year,

Yields to death’s pruning knife.

First, youngest born, as if ’twere meet,

The sacrifice should be,

"The last of earth," the first to meet

Th’ unknown eternity.

’Twas God who gave, ’twas He who took,

His voice let us obey,

So that in his eternal book,

Our names shine bright as day.

Source: African-American Poetry of the Nineteenth Century: An Anthology (University of Illinois Press, 1992)

 

 

 

 

Thursday, January 22, 2015

A week of poetic feet selfies #2 --- what we can't know by James LaVilla-Havelin


what we can’t know

the number of the dead
the stretch of an hour
a bird’s heart
how our embrace feels to the embraced
the moment of a flower’s opening
dirt’s weight
outermost ripples of friendship and love
peace
what our hands do while we sleep
a lie’s uncurling
the depth of loss
an insect’s view
silence
morning brushing against treetops
how we are remembered

James LaVilla-Havelin, "what we can't know" from Counting. Copyright © 2010 by James LaVilla-Havelin. Used with the permission of the author.

As seen on the Poet Walk at the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester NY

 

 

 

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

a week of poetic feet selfies ~~ It Wasn't The Wind by Linda Allardt

It Wasn't a The Wind by Linda Allardt Memorial Art Gallery Poet Walk
It Wasn’t The Wind

nor chasing squirrels
that brought the snow
down from the trees, but sun
before the clouds moved in.
I think of sails,
thin membranes spread
in the solar wind
Such far travel
before so slight a push,
always away from the sun
in slow acceleration, its course
an imperceptible bent past planets,
micro-impacts, the turbulence
where light meets light
between paired stars.
Stretched wide to the sun,
how far I find myself from anchor.

Linda Allardt, "It Wasn't the Wind" from Accused of Widsom (Foothills Publishing, 2004).


Friday, January 16, 2015

Doodling in the round: time lapse creation of a card

 

I got an itching to start handing out random cards at work, so I went into the studio last night to draw a card. While at it, why not try the time lapse option on my iPad camera. Beware ~> I spin the card quite a bit.


 

 

 

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Deb Veshinfsky "Tropical Flight" ... A splendid quilt

Deb Veshinfsky Tropical Flight photo by Wayne Strat

 

I love the symmetry and rainbow of colors going on

in this quilt by Deb Veshinfsky.

 

 

Friday, January 9, 2015

Recovering in the horticulture room: an annual gift of cuttings of Christmas Cactus

Christmas cacti cuttings

Last year was a rough year for our Christmas cacti. Overwatering may have done them in. So it was especially nice when my colleague and friend showed up with her plants this year. Once again she allowed us to take billions and billions of cuttings. Great success with rooting and now planted in these bright yellow pots. Caught my eye as I pondered a photo as my teaching week came to an end. Probably the fact that being a UofO Duck alum helped their cause

 

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Monday, January 5, 2015