annual donating in 2020, and a poem 12.31.2020

This year, in keeping with my desire to "give back" by donating a portion of my art sales to charitable organizations, I'm donating to the Madison School & Recreation pottery program. Their mission statement is "MSCR will enhance the quality of life for individuals in the Madison Metropolitan School District and for the community by …

poem – Oliver 12.17.2020

Walking Home from Oak-Head By Mary Oliver There is somethingabout the snow-laden skyin winterin the late afternoon that brings to the heart elationand the lovely meaninglessnessof time.Whenever I get home - whenever - somebody loves me there.MeanwhileI stand in the same dark peaceas any pine tree, or wander on slowlylike the still unhurried wind,waiting,as for …

poem – Eliot 9.24.2020

Wait Without Hope By T.S. Eliot I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hopeFor hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faithBut the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.Wait without thought, …

poem – Harrison 8.13.2020

Death Again by Jim Harrison Let's not get romantic or dismal about death.Indeed it's our most unique act along with birth.We must think of it as cooking breakfast,it's that ordinary. Break two eggs into a bowlor break a bowl into two eggs. Slip into a coffinafter the fluids have been drained, or better yet,slide into …

poem – Malloy

Epitaph by Merritt Malloy When I dieGive what’s left of me awayTo childrenAnd old men that wait to die.And if you need to cry,Cry for your brotherWalking the street beside you.And when you need me,Put your armsAround anyoneAnd give themWhat you need to give to me. I want to leave you something,Something betterThan wordsOr sounds. …

poem – Berry

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be …

poem – Heeter 2.20.2020

Wild Grief by Chris Heeter Start up close and from the back side.Don’t reach for the long view yet.It’s too much to ask of your grieving heart. Look close up, to the silhouette of seed heads on Wild grass.Stand behind a sunflower, on the back side,where each extended petal glows with sunlight. When Wild grief …

poem – Hirshfield 11.28.2019

For What Binds Us by Jane Hirshfield There are names for what binds us:strong forces, weak forces.Look around, you can see them:the skin that forms in a half-empty cup,nails rusting into the places they join,joints dovetailed on their own weight.The way things stay so solidlywherever they’ve been set down—and gravity, scientists say, is weak.And see …

poem – Nemerov 10.31.2019

The Consent by Howard Nemerov Late in November, on a single nightNot even near to freezing, the ginkgo treesThat stand along the walk drop all their leavesIn one consent, and neither to rain nor to windBut as though to time alone: the golden and greenLeaves litter the lawn today, that yesterdayHad spread aloft their fluttering …

poem – Imsland 8.22.2019

Heavier by Rachel Imsland its heavier than it looksthis weight its heavier than it might seemno lesseningrather, the lesson its heavier than it appearsthis griefthis sadness its heavier than you thinkbe careful when you pick it upthen carry it with you its heavier