Category Archives: Poems

Poems.

Alaska Love Poem

In 1984, during my troubled early twenties, I fell in love with a friend of mine. This poem was written to her. But it's especially a poem about how I came to love myself, & to give up my former self-hatred.
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Dream of Flight

Ravens, & a poet, at play.
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Snowfall

New snow this morning, & a poem to go with it.
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Job 42.13

A poem based upon a verse in the Book of Job, with an account by a Kansas farmer who saw the inside of a tornado in 1928.
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Step

A poem.
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Yukon River Haiku

In August 1995, I went on a jail monitoring trip to several villages in the Yukon-Koyukuk region of Alaska, riding in an Alaska State Troopers helicopter. This is a series of haikus that came out of that trip.
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Saturn is Heavier in My Dreams

Saturn is Heavier in My Dreams My head’s getting squashed again, all low and squat like I lived on Saturn or someplace like that, where the planet is heavy, and a woman from Earth can’t lift her head. My feet drag like they do in my dreams sometimes, and I don’t know why . . . like there’s a path I’m trying [...]
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Theodicy (poem)

Nine years ago, in July 2000, my friend Wendy’s daughter Jessie was killed by a drunk driver.  I wrote this poem for Wendy.  But mourning can be a hard & private thing, & I didn’t want to intrude — it took me a year to feel able to give it to her. We talked today about [...]
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Ode to Alcohol (poem)

I’m a safe drinker nowadays (& besides, I love this photo, & Midnight Sun Brewery makes some good stuff!), but back in the day I drank waaaaay too much. Yet it played a role in my letting go, eventually, of self-hatred. It, & my friends.  Same poem I mentioned in my last post. Prosody geeks: [...]
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Bar Fragments (poem)

This is the series of couplets that includes the lines about Michael Jackson included in my last post. Though written in 1995, the experiences date from 1983-84, when I was in my 20s & often went out dancing (& drinking & smoking) as many as three or four nights of the week to the [...]
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