one take

this is not a movie trailer
the voiceover’s in your head
and is prone to stutter
there’s no abracadabra
no magical impetus
to make all things mend
in just under 2 hours
or before the bill’s due
or love walks out
or the big line goes flat
there may be background music
but you’ll have to pipe it in
there might be a plucky heroine
but she may have to be you
you get the same clock
the bones and the blood
and a finite grasp
of the swirling infinite
and you must, simply,
make do
so improvise
speak slowly
think about the Theme
address it whenever possible
give your fellows
something to work with
keep the scene going
speak to the back row
emote
laugh
cry
wail
pause
express
and pray the editor is kind

August 2009

accountable

it is not good
for man
to be alone—
this logic
was more
than Eve’s explanation
more than
marriage propaganda
it was, and is,
an indictment
of our humanness
our character
our basic baseness
the guarantee
that, left to our own devices,
we will devise vices
and eat from strange trees
believing somehow
that if no one saw it
it never happened:
the myth of the tree
falling silently in the forest
we hear
we see
we know
it is not good
for man
to perceive to be alone
better that he make
a burnt offering
of such futile freedoms
and find hope
in the mutual,
crucial obligations
of community
in nearness to others
far from the slavery
of shadows
and secrecy

July 2009

driven home

last hurrah
last call
latest warning
the stakes
of stasis
grow
and ferment
I have too much
to lose
in the exercise
of this freedom
I must
change masters
apprentice myself
to higher
and healthier
disciplines
everything I love
rides on this

June 2009

when I’m bigger

I wait
for my epic moment
when I’ll summon
deep reserves
of greatness
I pass
the waiting hours
until that time
failing to be faithful
in a few things
in the small things
that actually define me

March 2009

talents

to risk or to bury
both court loss
though one actively
how to please a master
we’ve imagined as a monster

to risk or to bury
what’s a servant to do?
prepare for an audit
we assume must come
or put capital to work
and see what it
and we
are really made of

the myth of the master
is a ghost story:
we’re playing with allowances
in the backyards of our parents
at lemonade stands
and rummage sales
the streets are safe
and Dad is home

to risk or to bury
what’s a child to do?
do something
anything
just do
use it or lose it
we need not
even use it well

April 2009