The stone in the acorn path invited you
To listen, like a child will not. You must
Learn to recognize the need in your child,
Said the stone. Look closely at me, take
A picture if necessary. Notice how still
Category: Poems
Poetry from Oklahoma
A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.
“Son, do you know how love should be begun?”*
Moving backward was the name of the first collection
Of poetry I put together. I was fifteen, and I typed
The poems on half-sheets of paper and arranged them
Inside a full piece of typing paper. Thirty-five years Continue reading “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.”
Beasts of Burden, Part 218
Dolphins swim through the moon
Into the sky, sliding into stars
That want to be coral, at least
For a time. Mammals like humans
Dream of dolphins, shaping them
From paper clips and doodling them
Into a life beyond ocean and sky. Continue reading “Beasts of Burden, Part 218”
Massey Set the Bird Free
Massey set the bird free.
He knew its blueness
Longed for the blueness
Of sky, its glass fragility
The delicacy of dogwood, Continue reading “Massey Set the Bird Free”
My Back
The chiropractor tells me I have the toughest back
He has ever seen. He can’t crack me
On the regular exam table. We move to another one,
Where my feet are strapped down, and he stretches
My legs and rotates them, then tries again. Continue reading “My Back”
In Dead Grass
In the field of dead Johnson grass,
The red-winged blackbird landed.
It swayed the desert-colored stalks
With its weight, then held its place.
Like a swollen tick plucked from a dog
Then dropped, it did not move.
From this distance, I could not see
What suspended it there, what attraction.
Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry 