Monday, almost a week ago, was a “Big Day”. A day of “one big beginning and one final ending”, I wrote then. But it turned out to be a day of two beginnings. For almost half-a-dozen years I had been wearing a silver chain around my neck with two silver rings on it that areContinue reading “The broken chain & the rings that remain”
Tag Archives: poetry
“I know the value of my property”
“ I keep rifles in the front closet. Trespassing can be a glance. A good shot, I practice with bottles, bull’s eyes. I cross the line where the fence breaks, whereContinue reading ““I know the value of my property””
“when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story”
“ —And when you have forgotten the bright bedclothes on a Wednesday and a Saturday, And most especially when you have forgotten Sunday— When you have forgotten Sunday halves in bed, Or me sitting on the front-room radiator in the limping afternoon Looking off down the long street To nowhere, Hugged by my plain oldContinue reading ““when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story””
An epistrophe poem: With my boy’s chest
“ Running again, no sports-bra needed anymore, with my boy’s chest Climbing shirtless, bare rock under my fingers, with my boy’s chest Swimming, fresh water flowing over my whole body, with my boy’s chest Standing in front of the mirror, smiling, recognizing myself at last With my boy’s chest ”
“Rumination”
“ Hello thoughts, you’re not me You’re just birds seeking shelter In my mind like a tree “
“August in Waterton, Alberta”
“ Above me, wind does its best to blow leaves off the aspen tree a month too soon. No use wind. All you succeed in doing is making music, the noise of failure growing beautiful. “ [Poem August in Waterton, Alberta by Bill Holm]
“alternate names for black boys”
“ 1. smoke above the burning bush 2. archnemesis of summer night 3. first son of soil 4. coal awaiting spark & wind 5. guilty until proven dead 6. oil heavy starlight 7. monster until proven ghost 8. gone 9. phoenix who forgets to un-ash 10. going, going, gone 11. gods of shovels & blackContinue reading ““alternate names for black boys””
“Why we oppose pockets for women”
“ 1. Because pockets are not a natural right. 2. Because the great majority of women do not want pockets. If they did they would have them. 3. Because whenever women have had pockets they have not used them. 4. Because women are required to carry enough things as it is, without the additional burdenContinue reading ““Why we oppose pockets for women””
“The people I love the best”
Yesterday evening I started my first poetry class and the instructor shared a poem by Marge Piercy, To be of use. To me this felt like a concrete image of love, of friendship, as I imagine it, as I experience it. This is the way I hope to give and receive love and friendship —Continue reading ““The people I love the best””
The Little Prince and the Fox 