Though much of my teaching work is sharing poetry with schoolchildren, I consider myself an amateur poet. But I love the sparsity of poetry and often find that it’s the only way to say something.
Here are some samples:
I am richer (a poster/poem I made in light of the Occupy movements and because I’ve been thinking a lot about wealth and equity lately.)
Download this as a pdf here: I am richer
________
Three for Bees
Hum
This is the way
inside
this beating and this hum
these 6-sided chambers
these hands on wood
these hands on ache
this knife to cut
this scraper to clean
this city inside
here, an infancy
this infant inside
this brood comb
this lifting
this pouring
this bare hand, unglove
these netted eyes
this hovering
that lifts us over
this is the way
these bodies and these wings
this wet edge of knife
this dripping
this coming home yellow
this poppy dust
this dipping
these tongues
this being birthed
this linger between sweet
this sting risk
this squeezing
this smoke
here, hold here
these gifts and recompenses
this heart swarm
this hum and this beating
this hovering
is the way
in
Streams
We come and hold out our fingers
nearly begging for sting
we bathe and drink,
feel purified and chosen
awed by our fluttering,
and theirs
Meanwhile, there are no special acts—
the bees simply wake with dew
with uncelebrated purpose
to collect-deposit-protect-churn
These inscrutable transformations
suspend us—
we develop theorems for resurrection
some kind of explanation for
the thick golden initiations
inside our peculiar biochemistries,
and theirs
But here, my hands
Who does not want the pouring over,
the lively murmuring,
the requisite and exquisite punctures?
Who does not want streams meandering heartside?
O St. Ambrose
crawl into my mouth
sting my tongue
this is the origin of language
this is the origin of desire
this is original
before the apple was the flower
before the flower was the bee
taste this
land here
swell here
leave here
honey