Running Again in Grass at Dusk
We took to flight
In the gathering night
To become a part
Of the wind
(No poet’s ruse
No Mystery sublime
No words to refuse
No rhythm or rhyme)
But a physical dart
Clear out of sight
As fast as ever
We’ve been
And if I had to choose
Between legs and muse
I would suffer
(And probably sin)
Summer’s Morn
Summer’s morn like
Finest silk
Southern slope
Ozark hills
Cool and still and air so fine
One word won’t do: Divine! Divine!
15th June 2005
October Home
Sitting on Earth
In Fall-field of sedge
Warm sun on back
Cool wind around
New ancient
Deep clear
Complex simple
Familiar feeling found
Ancient ineffable harmony
Soul’s peace
So dear
20th October 1981
Native Arkansas
How many others with me saw
That day in native Arkansas
Star-clump of grass
Wet earth did draw
And filled my soul
With sweetest awe
25th November 1993
High March
Willows work wonders
when wind westward wails
Catkins yellow clear
Leaves of greenest pale
Bend
Bough
To zephyrious
Imperious
27th March 1985
Love’s Growing Grandeur
Love comes like lightning
Shaking and brightening
When atom-split air
Is washed
Through Mother Earth’s hair
The seeds rejoice
To soften and open
To Sun’s warmth
And Birth
And Beauty
All sing
And grow
And grow
And grow
28th September 2014
Hideout
Let’s ride out
To the hideout
And rake the coals again
And turn over rocks
And forget about clocks
And feel like Original Men
(And recognize all of our kin
The bug and the fox
And the snake and the wren)
Once out of the Box
And free of your sox
You can only start over
Amen
30th March 1996