I fought against the wind and, though I won, It threw its debris all about the place, Tossed hair asunder, tug-of-warred my face And left me with a sense of being stung. The wind did battle with the joys of sun, Though still the early spring bore marks of grace And, pulled this way andContinue reading “Late Winter”
Tag Archives: sonnet
Imago: For David Malouf
Who knows by what mysterious means the body moves to its ends? (David Malouf, An Imaginary Life) Half right, Ovid: we metamorphose, yet Not so wildly. There are leaps which we may Never take, gates which bar the backwards way. Infinitesimal, our movements, but breath Charges with possibility each step. We perish like beasts, toContinue reading “Imago: For David Malouf”
From Ashes: No glitch
No glitch in the creation plan and yet my mind skips and repeats over old tracks as though, as though in early days a scratch a fleck of dust crept in, crept in, upset the balance of it all. With every beat the tension in these ancient grooves – this wax – threatens now toContinue reading “From Ashes: No glitch”
From Ashes: Sonnet
Though fearfully and wonderfully made, There are abscesses where my dirt is stored: See here, the time I learnt to cry, to wade In mud and mire, and hurt of my own accord. Though Grace has breathed its breath in me, I still Retain the sick fruit of Adam’s broken soil; In pain, in guilt,Continue reading “From Ashes: Sonnet”
Philosophy is poetry if true
For truth is found in perfect, measured rhyme: The dance between the mystery and clue, The hint of infinite contained in time. Philosophy is true if it is said In words of simple honesty which ring With cosmic shimmers, and the truth is dead If language must obscure idea from thing. Plato’s only truth wasContinue reading “Philosophy is poetry if true”
The Jolt, the Life
Having been looked at by God, I had to and have to look at God. (Søren Kierkegaard, Journal) You – how can I call you by familiar names? Only Thou seems fitting; yet You invade Space, time, as though next to me, as though plain. Yet You are not plain: You assault, You raidContinue reading “The Jolt, the Life”
Epiphany (After Peter Steele’s “Madonna and Child”)
Tomorrow is Epiphany Sunday, and so I’ve chosen to begin my month of looking at Peter Steele’s poetry with this response to his poem “Madonna and Child”. Steele’s poem is an ekphrastic poem, meaning that it has come “out of” another art work, Justin O’Brien’s intriguing “Madonna and Child” (image from http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/8730/). I’ve followed Steele’sContinue reading “Epiphany (After Peter Steele’s “Madonna and Child”)”
Exultavit cor meum (1 Samuel 2:1-10)
Did she walk away singing, joy in heart? The knowledge sang within her, of the Rock From whom all water flowed, and this exchange In fortunes – rich brought low and poor made high. Yet richest gifts demand the largest part; Though free, as she went home, from those who’d mock, Such height, such grace,Continue reading “Exultavit cor meum (1 Samuel 2:1-10)”
Book Travellers: For Italo Calvino
Italo, I have often had this dream: A bookshop winds on spiral stairs, with shelves Inviting eager eyes to search for names And spines which lie, “Yes, I am here; it’s me.” Italo, in my dream it always seems That though my search for perfect books will delve Across each shelf, the titles play theseContinue reading “Book Travellers: For Italo Calvino”
With reverent fear
In this you greatly rejoice, though for now Your life flits by, empty at times, sometimes glad. And in these days, though you furrow your brow, The breeze on your face can still lift up the sad, And music is sweet, and the grace that is seen Falls likewise on righteous, unrighteous, Both blesses theContinue reading “With reverent fear”
The Consolations of Writing 