THE GIFT

From Interstate, University of Pittsburgh Press

 

In memory of Ruth Stone (June 8th, 1915—November 19th, 2011) 

 

“All I did was write them down

wherever I was at the time, hanging

laundry, baking bread, driving to Illinois...

 

 

 

 

 

GROUSE CALL

From Interstate, University of Pittsburgh Press

 

Do si do and say hello

to drummin’ bird. Slow

it down then pick it up...

 

 

 

 

 

TO HEAR AND HEAR

From Night Mowing, University of Pittsburgh Press

 

The hermit thrush is set for six

to sing her song, as if it were

the end of the world and she was stirred...

 

 

 

 

 

THIS ECSTACY

From The Double Truth, University of Pittsburgh Press

 

It’s not paradise I’m looking for

but the naming I hardly gave a thought to.

Call it the gift I carried in my loneliness

beneath the overstory before I started

listening to the news...

 

 

                     

 

 

PASTERNAK

From Best American Poetry, 1999

 

"What century have we got out there, my dears?"

-Boris Pasternak

 

This was the life, to live in Russia

at the end of Russia and write about its history...

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT THE ANIMALS TEACH US

From The Pushcart Prize, 1998

 

that love is dependent on memory,

that life is eternal and therefore criminal,

that thought is an invisible veil that covers our eyes...