On the Metro (a poem by C. K. Williams)

On the metro, I have to ask a young woman to move the packages beside her to make    room for me; she’s reading, her foot propped on the seat in front of her, and barely looks up as  she pulls them to her.I sit, take out my own book—Cioran, […]

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The Journey (a poem by David Whyte)

Above the mountainsthe geese turn intothe light again Painting theirblack silhouetteson an open sky. Sometimes everythinghas to beinscribed acrossthe heavens so you can findthe one linealready writteninside you. Sometimes it takesa great skyto find that first, brightand indescribablewedge of freedomin your own heart. Sometimes withthe bones of the blacksticks left […]

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Maybe I’ll See You Around

Listen, we need to go now, we can’t stay here any longer, Listen! The train is leaving now, can’t you hear the whistle? if we run, we may get it Can you hear me? Listen… you can stay here, if you like, I wont mind… it’s okay, I’ll be okay, no, […]

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The Lost Mail

I was promised an email 2 days ago, 15 days ago, 24 days ago, 1 month ago, The days are longer now, the rain still sits in the ground, even though it’s November now People complain it rains too much I drive long stretches of road, some stop to tell […]

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The Junk in the Basement

image: http://whrt.it/WLm3X0 Just junk. The years are junk. Surely they must be. All these useless parts and broken springs, and leaking cans and torn sheets and, damaged things, accumulating, growing in the dark damp corners. In spaces I cannot fit in anymore, in spaces I cannot breathe in anymore. There’s […]

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Unsettled

There is something unsettled in me, if I give it a moment, They say, it will settle, If I let it breathe and grow and Be They say it will fix, (like a cut healed with a scar no one sees) There is something undone, They tell me to give […]

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The Mother Land

Through the windows, the landscape passes, like wind through my hair, the train passes through dawn, A crisp light in the air, passengers fumble for blankets, toothbrushes, a hand to grasp Curtains drawn a yawn a supplication to God Voices, foreign the land stops, the cold morning air And me, […]

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A Great Big Empty Ballroom

Sometimes all I want is to be alone. In a space for me. In a room. Quiet. So that my thoughts can uncrumple and unfold and unravel, crawl out of my brain, out the window into some wild dead forest where all tired things can lie down in the leaves […]

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Remembering For You

His hands are crumpled brown paper bags His eyebrows, I notice now are suddenly sparse Feisty but few He begins, I was forgetting… I forget a lot now I wait This story – this story you tell. Is mine. Mine. Imagine… Tell me, what does ‘dilemma’ mean? You must tell […]

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In Your Shoes

It was only when I walked in your shoes banana, camel-coloured, loopy and long, except that one, I liked It was only when I slipped them on – comfortably (I didn’t even hesitate to lace them tight) It was only when I walked in them, walked in your shoes Clomped […]

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