Cold Front
Grey mountains march at the edge of the sky. Dark mountains glower through a narrowed eye. From shadowed mountain vales comes a breeze long blest And the wind rises silent from the dark northwest. It rushes as it rises like a half-remembered...
The Holy Mountain of Vengeance
In the land of seven rivers, where the gates of death are builded, Stands a mountain (I can see it on the days when clouds are lifted) That is sacred to Odurum of the everlasting anger, (Who sets the forest blazing with his everlasting anger,) They...
This Poem Is Haunted
This is the house that he built out of breath. That was his living. This is his death. These are his clothes, though he needs them no more. Those were his shoes, left outside the door. These are peeled grapes, but pretend they're his...
I Ask Myself How Is It I Have Come
I ask myself, how is it I have come, Still so far from the sunset of my days, (I pray tis not yet sunset on my days) Unto some chamber in the maze of life Where it is possible to hear you say 'I miss you' and 'I feel your absence in The...
I Do Not Fear A Season Without Hope
I do not fear a season without hope: Catastrophe upon catastrophe, When love is every day a little bit Made more a crime. When cruelty becomes The only virtue men know how to praise. When all but easy speeches are forbid To comfort cruel men. I...
Maybe All Confessional Essays Should Be Written In Blank Verse
This started as a question, in my head. Why can I not write love a happy end? Why, when I try, must I write mourning, loss, Bereavement and the need for elegy? I write unto my husband, whom I love, And it becomes a prayer for his soul. I write...
A Reading From the Gospel According to the Wolf
_Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord_ _Of the god of earth and altar that our forefathers adored._ _Though to last until that promised land is more'n I can afford_ _I'll last a little longer yet. On that you have my word._ The...
Tradewind Vs. Accord
Emily set down her cardboard tray. "We should do this more often." Seth and Martin both hesitated. She had to hand them each their own coffees, grumbling as she did. "Can't you read the names on the sides of the cup? It's not that hard." "I was...
My Heart is Full of Thunder
My heart is full of thunder. This is neither good nor bad. Which may lead you to wonder Just what sort of day I've had. And if you were standing under The fall of blood or rain, Then you may well think the thunder To be cries of crippling...
A Town Called Yesterday
It was somewhere in the riverlands I found it by the shore, A town lit just with christmas lights. I'd swear I'd been before. The sun was down, the tide was out, the wind was in the west. And since it looked so peaceful there, I sat me down to...
The Homecoming of Daniel Usherswell
The town of Good Intentions was respectable and quiet, As respectable and quiet as many towns that languish In the once remarkable, but no more remarked, rolling grasslands. The roads that once led out from it lay still and sullen silent, ...
Blank Verse Essay on the Haunting of America
If you tell stories long enough my friend, I think, if you are honest, you must own That stories told here, told about here, try To turn into ghost stories. Only by Supreme and rigid force of will can you Tell any story in this land of ours And...