that time when theory

that time when theory was more interesting than poetry

an expectant hush settles over the room / the poets are about to read
 

/ the frisson of recognition / rejection as recognition / poetry and restraint theory / poetry as territory / stop explaining the poem / immersed in language / guided by engagement / breeding fragments / poetics meets critical writing / transgressive resurrections / the material word / intersectional entreaties / the failure of intent / how we choose what survives / what is different and still ordinary / people fit together in ways we would never expect / rejection of the subjective mode / the subject of experience / traversing the landscape of meaning / "i have feelings too" / let me take my place in the choir / discover new trajectories / the question of community / the vagaries of taste / sometimes it takes me hundreds of hours /

beauty still exists

spaces

this is a poem about

                                absence.

this is how the space between lines

                                                      creates space.

space makes the poem

                                   longer, and

(hopefully)

                  deeper.

i miss you.

do you miss me?

    i miss you.

this is how you learn absence

                                             by missing.

this is how you learn abstinence

                                                 with longing

the breath

                  measured,

sometimes caught

                            in the throat,

stretched out

                     on the page.

silence

there’s so much of it

(God’s silence
your silence
my silence
what you say
what you don’t
what i say
what i don’t
what we say
what we don’t)

or so little

*
 
after he says i love you
after the applause has ended, and you’re sitting alone in your room
after the confession of indiscretions
after your heroes are gone
after the towers came down
after words spoken in anger
after too many drinks
after the war
after she says i love you
after a job well done
after many tearful entreaties
after the recognition that you’re wrong
after regret takes hold of you and you wonder if there’s a way to go back
after the sharing of a secret
after you realize that your friendship is over
after the lights go down
after it’s not you, it’s me
after the birth of your first child
after the discovery of a betrayal
after the news that your oma passed away at 102
after the gift of a confession
after you didn’t see that coming
after the bad news
after the good news

bright monday, 2017

so now what?

we gather together

in the midst of confusion

and whispers of joy

all those rumours

in the midst of confusion

we find comfort in the gathering of voices

there will always be questions

in the midst of confusion

do we whisper         fear or hope?

when he appears

there are fewer questions

and an explosion of joy

in the midst of confusion

the whispering gathering

joy

easter, 2017

early in the morning the tomb is open
something was broken

and yet we enter into darkness
scrabbling around for joy

everyone lights a candle
shares the flame

perhaps light is the first symbol we embrace
we all burn together

and so we gather with our friends
he is risen!
                 he is risen, indeed!

i believe this is where i say thank you

guide us now
join your hands with ours