POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR NOVEMBER 10

“Do you do drugs?”
they asked him.
“We don't understand you.”

“I am a poet,” he said.
“No need for drugs.”

They fix dyslexia,
ADD, so much else

with drugs these days--
I am envious:

nothing fixes poetry.

Returned

Home on a dark morning, as the sun slowly paints the sky. Slept nearly 10 hours. A good gathering of people now over with.

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR NOVEMBER 9

“You know,” he said,
“if you're going to
write poetry,

you might as well
play the horses.
People understand

that, at least.”

But
odds are,

they won't:
write anyway.

Away and away

I will be most likely be offline until Monday morning. Off to a conference in Barrie, Ontario, and my laptop does not have internet access (though it does have the manuscript for my next novel, and I can spend a bit more editing time on it!)

See y'all when I get back!

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR NOVEMBER 5

“You say you want to,
so why aren't you?”

Oh, but I Am:

just not
Doing anything.

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR NOVEMBER 4

“Like a joke
without a straight-man,

without the punch-line,
only more.”

Hear me if
you've stopped this

before--

Gathering in a time of plague

My watch stopped at 2:35 AM several weeks ago.
I no longer wear a watch.
We do not shake hands.
Yesterday, I spent an hour disinfecting tables, keyboards, desks, pens, doorknobs.
We can expect 40% of our workforce to be off at any given time.
There are signs tacked up everywhere urging us not to get the shots--it's a conspiracy.
The left has gone as crazy as the right.
The Lord of Misrule is upon us.
This morning, the sun rose and shook hands across the sky with the full moon.

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR NOVEMBER 3

“A sonnet and a few
bucks will buy you coffee,”

he said, “where a sonnet
alone won't get you

even the empty cup.”

And if the coffee
is worthless,

your currency squandered,

may the sonnet
remind you of sunlight

in clear air.

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR NOVEMBER 2

“Words, words, words, words,
and what they mean, or might.

Sound and the echo of it
back, and nothing.”

And nothing and nothing
and nothing and nothing

and sound and sound
and sound: I have words,

therefore I am.

Edible bowl

Edible bowl, originally uploaded by er1danus.

Pumpkin soup in its own shell: the trick is to carefully scrape off the inner part of the shell (without springing a leak!) and adding it to the broth. After that, puree the whole thing in a blender and presto! great soup.
Look here for the recipe: www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Recipes.html
Thank you, Barbara Kingsolver and family!

Halloween composition

Halloween composition, originally uploaded by er1danus.

October 30, 2009: My students enjoy some pumpkin soup made in its own shell, plus some apples and roasted pumpkin seeds. One insisted on "making it look nice" by arranging this composition. It all tasted as good as it looked.

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR OCTOBER 30

“How far
before

no more?”

Voyage
remembered

in beginnings, only.

November Bones

(the idea came as I walked the dog this morning before sunrise)

November Bones

Bare branches like bones:
we are bare,
our shivering rattling skulls
flaking off gathered frost,
where a kiss sounds like abrasions,
our bones and joints
torquing in pain and cold.

One day,
we will be
covered in mercy,
wear it like skin
in the shy sunlight,
until the heat clothes us
in new discomfort.

(draft copyright)

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR OCTOBER 29

“With enough
face paint, we'd

be clowns. As
it is, we're

only poets.”

But being clowns
is the only way

to respond to what
Is:

may our words
laugh.

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR OCTOBER 28

“If I could
sing, I would -

a rude tune
made of words

like bitter
drink, of dreams

like wind, of
love like unction.”

"You will
excuse

my workmanship:

like God,
I was not

so much in a hurry
as lost in my

creation."

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR OCTOBER 27

“If you could
talk your way
to silence,

that would be
the poem.”

"Poems are such

voluble
creatures--

stay,
if you wish."

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR OCTOBER 26

“Sometimes
so full of
nothing

I am
as wind.”

But do you
not feel

my presence?

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner: Next week--reversion to normal?

LINES FOR OCTOBER 23

“The poem,
like an under-
done onion,

still has
some bite.”

Oh hesitate
and the time is
lost to a poodle.

Immense though
it is.

Shall I pet it?

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner: this week, with pre-written, random responses!

LINES FOR OCTOBER 22

Like an unwashed
dish,” he said,

“leave it there,
the poem, half-

finished. There's
no undoing

what's not been done.”

That sunset:
would you
part with it?

Even for
a moment?

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner: this week, with pre-written, random responses!

LINES FOR OCTOBER 21

“You cannot
abandon
what you've

been,” he said.
“Everything
behind you

rolls ahead.”

Your sorrow burns
like dry ice
in boiling water.

Have a care
with my tears.
As I care
for yours.

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner: this week, with random, pre-written responses!

LINES FOR OCTOBER 20

“If you are writing,”
he said, “do not

complain that you
are not writing

what you want.”

For short tires,
choose only
the best
twigs.

Never
under any circumstances
use synthetic chlorophyll...

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner: This week, with random, pre-written responses!

LINES FOR OCTOBER 19

“When the poem
takes you,” he said,

“there is no
pushing back.”

I didn't start

to free the bacon--
only pet the pig.

Neither of us
is happy.

October 18, 2009

October 18, 2009, originally uploaded by er1danus.

And to all, a good night.

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR OCTOBER 16

“We call this
wisdom,” he said,

“these words,
this water

down the mountain.”

"Can we follow it,"
they asked,

"or should we rush
down the mountain,

hoping to overtake it?"

POETIC DIALOGUE with the Middlewesterner

LINES FOR OCTOBER 15

“If you're in such
an all-fired hurry,”
he said, “don't walk

with the turtle, don't
work with a poet.”

"See that leaf?

We, too,
will fall--

will the poem
lay trapped

within us then?"