dogtrax

We are mere ripples on the surface, a stone's throw away from sinking

for Sheri

Write, so I can hear you

— from 'Eva Whose Shadow Is A Swan' by Dunya Mikhail https://onbeing.org/poetry/eva-whose-shadow-is-a-swan/

Advent Of Love Dec 17

Letter obsessive, I follow each racing swoop with steady fingers, tracing lines you wrote, remembering the way you formed your O's your L's your V's with your tongue, your hope catching on Sun, the silence of your E's lingering as ghosts in the air, your voice calling, a Siren on paper; I am only stalling – listening, I hear you

Because poetry is your greatest archeological tool — from 'Make No Apologies For Yourself' by Glenis Redmond https://poets.org/poem/make-no-apologies-yourself

Advent Of Love Dec 16

Pen, as pickax, and careful now with the feathered brush, sweep gentle, there's no push to rush, pin the string as contours, square by square by square, gather words on paper to discover the story: it's buried below surface, something deep inside there

Go toward the light always, be without ships — from The Lightkeeper by Carolyn Forché https://www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2022/10/05/777-the-lightkeeper

Advent Of Love Dec 15

Unmoored, often, with little more anchor, than anger

We drift, riding seas towards wherever they take us

Somewhere, a light shines, blinking in wonder above,

but we, the lost and lonely have yet to make contact

Sundays too my father got up early

— from 'Those Winter Sundays' by Robert Hayden

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46461/those-winter-sundays

Advent of Love Dec 14

Cold rainy mornings, he'd be awake, without me asking,

help me place bundles of newsprint into the car, then drive, quiet,

the radio stuck on the morning jazz station – Miles' muted horn, singing -

me, hopping out, outrunning raindrops to deliver to doorsteps

pulped press paper, bringing inked stories into the world

I miss the solar system’s symmetry ...

— from I Would Do Anything For Love, But Not by Traci Brimhall

https://www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2022/05/27/684-i-would-do-anything-for-love-but-i-wont

Advent Of Love Dec 13

Whatever happened to Pluto, anyway, the way it fell away from our gravitational pull, and became yet another object in orbit around the Sun, but when we were young, the smallest rock was the farthest our fingers could reach on the mural wall, our teachers would have us stretch on tippy toes until our fingers touched the very edge of the unknown

Remind me, he says to our family

— from “I Invite My Parents To A Dinner Party” by Chen Chen https://onbeing.org/poetry/i-invite-my-parents-to-a-dinner-party/

Advent of Love Dec 12

for I am forgetful of the intricacies, a frayed thread caught on the edge of woven wool, but you weave me like you know me, a story in the needle like pen to paper, even as I let you pull me taut

Memories surface ...

from 'If Being A Man Allowed For Emotion' by Junious Ward https://poets.org/poem/if-being-man-allowed-emotion

Advent Of Love Dec 11

My father brings me fishing, for the first time ever, sitting me down on the banks of the river, and I wait,

for what, I don't know, but I still remember the silence of the day, and then the hum of his fishing line

and how time let out, how the string would sing as it danced on water, as I sat there, quiet, watching, for what seemed like hours

Who said, hats and gloves, on a December morning that feels like April?

for Algot

But maybe it’s better this way — no puny pencil stub of a word

— from 'Bone of Bone and Flesh of My Flesh' by Ellen Bass https://onbeing.org/poetry/bone-of-my-bone-and-flesh-of-my-flesh/

Advent Of Love Dec 10

Me began again with Us, with You, my love - the one I trust, who leaned her body against the door, and kept it shut