Random Selected Readings from Collected Poems

The Fall

And all things fade

and so we fade and fall

the planets fall

as the sun cools down

as the oceans boil

and the birds go down

as their feathers burn

and the bones go to ground

where the earthworms go

to swallow and be swallowed

and the fossils turn

to liquid from solid

where no light ever goes

where the dark kills shadows

and the distant parts

of the cosmos grow cold

and nothing expands

and the vacuum goes on

where all things fade

there must we go

where all things fade and fall

Song for a New Year

Much is learned

as much as was forgotten

each time we heard

every time we opened

ourselves and our houses again

to the ones we depend on

but not for our cheer

not for the bread or the butter

but for the heart they supply

in its spillage and fire

in its defiance of death

for the dance

we make from sleep to eternity

Before the fast

We dig deeply

and deeply we delve into the outside world

we tear and gorge on it

we eat

and we drink of the blood of the root

this gross phenomenon

we become one with it

for one night at least we take its shape on

free the belly

unbelt the buckle

give ourselves over to our beastlier side

with tooth and knuckle

until we are sick with it

until we are drunk on that power we will

never possess

never will we match it

in its voracity

never can we be so self-contained

as to eat our own tails

and so we turn

as all things eventually must to their source

we sit in quiet

we make prayer to the dead of night

we make common cause with the moon

hang our heads

in the face of the sun made humble

we expect only darkness to come

and we reflect

Stray rabbit

I don't mind change

I adapt to most conditions

give me time

a bit of space

I can make the best of most situations

I can take

to the worst conversations

and turn them round

I don't mind a little trouble

on the odd occasion

I can play

dance the devil's advocate

flirt with convention

if you like

chasing rabbits

into the break of day

or I can go

quietly

to ground

balanced as the dawn goes

away

any time you say

Devil Net

Be not frightened children

I am here

there is no sign of sandman

he is nowhere near

let your dreams be untroubled

may your sleep stay untouched

let the night pass as gentle

as the moon is clear

I am watching

the air as it folds around us

I am monitoring the fields

leapfrogging fences

fashioning fresh devil-nets

from sticks and vines

and nobody is creeping up

on you tonight

nothing will get past these lines