"Vivas to those who have failed: for they become the river."

-From "Vivas To Those Who Have Failed: The Paterson Silk Strike, 1913" by MARTÍN ESPADA

"Failing and Flying" by Jack Gilbert

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.

It's the same when love comes to an end,

or the marriage fails and people say

they knew it was a mistake, that everybody

said it would never work. That she was

old enough to know better. But anything

worth doing is worth doing badly.

Like being there by that summer ocean

on the other side of the island while

love was fading out of her, the stars

burning so extravagantly those nights that

anyone could tell you they would never last.

Every morning she was asleep in my bed

like a visitation, the gentleness in her

like antelope standing in the dawn mist.

Each afternoon I watched her coming back

through the hot stony field after swimming,

the sea light behind her and the huge sky

on the other side of that. Listened to her

while we ate lunch. How can they say

the marriage failed? Like the people who

came back from Provence (when it was Provence)

and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.

I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,

but just coming to the end of his triumph.

From "Passing Through" by Stanley Kunitz

The way I look

at it, I’m passing through a phase:   

gradually I’m changing to a word.   

Whatever you choose to claim   

of me is always yours;

nothing is truly mine

except my name. I only

borrowed this dust.

"Poem Without An End" by Yehuda Amichai (translated by Chana Bloch)

Inside the brand-new museum

there’s an old synagogue.

Inside the synagogue

is me.

Inside me

my heart.

Inside my heart

a museum.

Inside the museum

a synagogue,

inside it

me,

inside me

my heart,

inside my heart

a museum

Do not turn off the system

Installing...


I am sad that my sister and brother in law didn't respond, but also I know that I have been the one not to respond and it wasn't personal


It's really shitty that you didn't have anything kind to say

Also

Thank you for helping me to release you


Perhaps that's the kindest thing you could have done

I thank you and I release you



I wish I could tell all the people I haven't responded to that I love them

Because I didn't tell anybody what I've been through nobody knows what I've been through

Therefore it is harder for them to understand the radio silence

Still I wouldn't have listened even if they'd known, and that's why I didn't tell them

A save of everyone's time




I watched the movie where the tiny people migrated underground except for the poor tiny people and the people who wanted to stay above ground to help

Chin up fists up




The orange tennis ball sits beside the green tennis ball and around my waist is a pair of extra-large green and blue plaid boxers

When I stand up, they fall down, which is why I've rolled the elastic about six times and use one hand to hoist them skyward whenever I walk from one room to another


Carefully picking our way among the red stones

He says they remind him of home





We walk together
Eight legs, three hearts, the mountains
The red stones like home

79% 88% 91% 100

After we wake in the middle of the night to care for Hanna and then wake a few hours later to hike to that remote alpine lake amidst piles of red stones, we drive home down the long dirt rode through the migrating cattle and stop at the Hawaiian place to pick up some takeout

For lunch I eat raw tuna, thinly sliced cabbage, pickled onions, white rice and hot sauce

I wash it down with a bite of almond butter and some low-sugar orange juice


Raw tuna? Who is this woman! 


But then I remember that tuna salad was one of my favorite foods throughout my entire childhood

No salmon for me, thanks


Nevertheless, these days I eat tuna maybe 2 or 3 times per year because people are eating too many of them

I do not suffer for it



The spicy ginger from Vietnam is so good, though at a certain point it hurts my teeth

I am sad that I may not be able to visit my brother in January


I am so excited that I will be going back to school in December



Shall I start writing haikus again?



The lake is so deep
and so eloquent, bugs script
across the water

think of class 3 as all the stuff you can do

I want you to be in


At the exact right moment I channel the force





I've figured it out--what makes animals so beautiful. They are both animal and spirit, wholly





Sucking a grape popsicle remembering how good it was to be a kid in the summer





Earlier I really felt it--how privileged my life is. A reminder to seize every bit of my freedom, and still not forget the people and other creatures in cages



I will be teaching creative writing at the local jail



The wheel spun and because I am writing I flinched--then remembered I'm not with that guy any more and grew thankful



Crinkling cellophane and the gentle sound of 27,000 people talking


We lay down the yoga mat and all four of us converge



How big is Dick's stadium


What's that on the table? 



I am starting to understand what it's like to feel human. I feel like a rose dropping her stiff outer petals, revealing the soft ones beneath



I ask for my chocolate and he is so nice about it

That yogurt with the honey on it



An imperfect life, wholly

The motorcycle has ridden away into the sunset

In my memory I sit on the dock of the inner harbor living up to its name as I sheltered in that familiar place, paused for a moment between the shoulders of my two new women friends, perhaps the first I'd ever had, in between two worlds I did not know but between which I was traveling


I'm sorry John I owe you a phone call or at least a text



I just let myself be the sidekick to everybody's life. In retrospect it's so sad

I didn't know that I was allowed to live my own




I remind him to be nice and he does it


I remember when I wore black tights and combat boots everywhere and I went out dancing three or four times a week

I remember when I

I remember



I remember






Four ordinary men quietly became one of the most successful musical collaborations in the history of our country, and if that balding head isn't enough to teach you something about the power of passion and joy then you've gotta zoom the fuck out




Everything's right so just hold tight