seeing/saying: November 2013

Saturday, November 30, 2013

A rising

From a dark night

Would depend

On spirits known

To be called

Forth awake

Up until

That pinpoint

They balanced on

Untenable

These restless

Boarders

Went under

A weary dream

Tired of dancing

Daylight

The dog star

Is cheap poetry

Considering

Its source

At a distance

Yelping

Yelping to be

Unnamed

Tom McGlynn

Friday, November 29, 2013

After the holiday

We went skating

As the curtains

Were trimmed

Back home

To retain

Valence

In the sunless

Afternoon

We twirled

A flattened orbit

Trimming the day

Of wax

In whose care

Is this beacon?

The hemming

Was complete

Before we

Returned

Still

To a warm

And darkened

Hearth

Tom McGlynn

There is no lack

Of honesty

In the burned- out

Block

Of flats

That used to house

A complement

Of lies

As what

Pays

The rent

On time

A caterpillar squats

On top now

An excavator

On its foundling

Truths

Bright orange

Raked the flames

And the arm

Hydraulic

Both

Tom McGlynn

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Sere minutes

Set on teeth

Were lost

To smoke

That

I sought

Signal

Which calls

The soldiers

Home

Put up in

Sentinel boxes

Long nailed

Complete

With holding

Brass

No retreat

In choosing flight

Just

A longing

Lateral

Sere minutes

Set on teeth

Edging deserts

I thought

Refuge

No retreat

In choosing flight

Tom McGlynn

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Subject to

A tendon strain

Thought all gone

In trance inane

Harken to

The winter rain

Slick upon

The freezing tread

Miss the riser

And you're dead

To raving poets

Breaking bread

Repast relayed

This even tide

Where suns

Of mien

Play slip

And slide

Tom McGlynn

Monday, November 25, 2013

Alarms are

Going off

All over

Before the door

Has opened

Out

This early

The shock

Can still

Be heard

Before the door

Has opened

Out

What separates

The weather

Amplifies

The cold

Inside

Before the door

Has opened

Out

Unmoving

Is the dawn

Of man

Until the door

Has opened

Out

Tom McGlynn

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Blessed be

Multiplying fools

For in their math

Is treason

Damned

If they don't

Add up to sum

Ancillary reason

Tom McGlynn

Taking the temperature

Stealing outside

In still numbers

Counts along

Divisions

Between skin

And bones

One cover

To multiple

Working parts

A machine

To crush stone

That bruises

A freeze

A thaw

A stolen thing

Given to

Extremes

Icy the level

Falling

And rising on

Occasion deep

Unchained by

Fleeting thoughts

Of wings

Tom McGlynn

Saturday, November 23, 2013

There's a slide

Of rocks

To jump down

A winding curb

To leap

A library stair

Or a low-set sill

To bounce off

Feet from

Inner ears

Calling out

The merry step

Just hours

Before the dance

Tom McGlynn

When a cold

Comes in

The earth sours

And sleeps

Sweetly turning

My roots

Are upside down

Banging and scratching

At the sky

The ribs of ridges

Feather time

That distant smoke

Arising

Needles

Under pine

Make hay

Of lines

Woven into

Blankets

Tom McGlynn

Friday, November 22, 2013

A sheath of blue

Lighter than the sky

Fingers these

For giving

Hands

With a stingy

Touch

There is comfort

In a pale

Beyond

Neighbors can't

Solicit

Is it morning

Or death that comes in sheets

Each day getting further

Towards

Oscuro

Rolling in

A fog

Enveloping this

Lighter

Lost to deeper

Blue

Tom McGlynn

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Some body rescued

This chest

Of drawers

Circling the block

Trusting that

The stooped waiting

Carcass

Would open

And fit again

To be moved

Until closed again

With days

Of ample

Garment

Tom McGlynn

Now the cenote

Retreats
Between blades

Discover a mussel

Pulled from

The wrack

Reserve

Your pooled

Exclamations

For what may be combed

Away from

These tortured

Verses

There at depth

Can you drown

A downside i

Beat! and beat!

Forget your blood

From stopping

This rock

Is softer than

You think

Tom McGlynn

Monday, November 18, 2013

This is in part

To hurry you

To the window

Waiting up

For a child

Returned

Once more

Returned

There will be

Others

Moving through

Each other

Takes a breath

Each time

Until that time

For staying whole

Relieves you

Of your watch

Tom McGlynn

Walking through

The door I built

To build another's

Yet unknown

As lunar day

Begins the week

A source of warmth

Its end to seek

Tom McGlynn

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Twist your head

Inside this box

Just so framed

To fill your

Empty heart

Bend your frame

To crowd this

Childish bed

Outgrown

In an orphan

Age

Take a load off

Unlimber

Untasked by longing

Or the comfort

Of fitting in

By forgetting

Your shape

To shift

Tom McGlynn

Friday, November 15, 2013

The chinking

Between the logs

Has come loose

Borne away

To other’s comfort

Leavening

A multitude of

Scuttling claws

And teeth

To bristle nests

At the gaps

The wind

Can freely

Enter

Rudely

Self-inviting

Threatening

Stupidity

The doors

And windows

Front to back

Line up

You could shoot

Right through

This un-winged crib

These lots

Them that keep

Can earn

Their salt

But will never make

A decent pile

Tom McGlynn

An explication

Of starlight

Is a reach

Unwonted

When this

Short phase

Puddled at

My feet

Stays unblown

About my wate

Tom McGlynn

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Sleepless as are

Those grasses

Still standing

By November

A moist wicking frost

Peals through

Once tongued creeks

While the deer

Retreat

To their

Upland beds

Which evidence

I hunt

Unarmed

And wake

In a scarlet

Dawning fever

The ridges

Have been

Redrawn

In my bones

Sinew sown

Inviting shadow

This season being

My true berth

Tightened

Tom McGlynn

Short of measuring

This pressing street

How many stand

Has yet

To meet

The place

In the walk

Yet to concrete

This slumping

Of the test

Repeat

Tom McGlynn

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Bill and Dot

With kubla can

Fetched some water

In Allemagne

To slake

This strictly

Thirsty pan

With angel tears

Incontinent

Tom McGlynn

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

You profess

Guilt

Openly furtive

And furry

As a squirrel

On a wire

Then digging

Digging

Then with

A mouthful

Of leaves

Who is guilty

Of the cold

That seeks

Its favor

Between the cracks

Indifferent to

Any saving

Race

Tom McGlynn

Monday, November 11, 2013

That side road

We took

Slowly

To light on

Free boxes

And tintypes

Of dead friends

And couples

Their brass

Retouched

Now drives

Like a turnpike

In a two-door

Coup

Tom McGlynn

Still there may be

Soothing thoughts

Sprung from

You, man

Suffering

Yet to bow

To a prince

Lee thrown

A soul be

Which

Cannot be soled

But narrow- scaped

From a ledger

Demain

Foot -held

To conjure

The valley dew

Yea, though

To walk

Mist- prismed

Into the shadows

Of mourning

Tom McGlynn

Sunday, November 10, 2013

A chopping wind

Cuts

Then runs

Tearing heads

Off trees

And Hudson

Whitecaps

Next to slate blue

Winding

Rivers

Down from

West 79th

How often

Does this wester

Clear

Then clog again

With periods

Leaving

Across talk

Heels

To pedestrian

Sound

Whistling through

These citied

Blocks

Falling

At the touch

Of winter

Tom McGlynn

Saturday, November 9, 2013

White planks

Wide

Before pining

Became obsolete

Got replaced by

Lumbering

Cedar swamps

Rooted

In the darkest

Brack

Brought to knees

Over drawn

And under dug

Split out

In the ginning

Mill

Whose kin

Does the steward

Quarter decked

Flay upon

The flying cloud

Flown to bark

Another stage

Tom McGlynn

No more

Are these

Elastic dreams

Of thread waxing

And the compact

Of pressing felt

By the children

Uneven

That may choose

To play

Within these

Lofty rooms

Making the place

An island streamed

Not content

A bed

To sit

Tom McGlynn

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Often a mind full

Shot and run

Taxes vain propriety

Coyly to re- load the gun

Bent to calm sobriety

Tom McGlynn

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

These gifts

Of live masks

Present

And accounted

For remaining

Absent

Seed and stand

In meadows

Staid fallow

Of their own

Gleaning

The thief

Of seasons

Gathers, rushes

In November

Russet

To the marrow

Hawk

Long in sight

And lasting

Over

Tom McGlynn

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

As it was

Our custom

To back up traffic

For a coffee and roll

Before delivering

The archives

It was supposed

They would not

Arrive on time

This block

We occupy

Will forever be

A memory

Our own

Tom McGlynn

Monday, November 4, 2013

I've taken ill

For all its worth

A failing heart

A sweaty berth

A swaying swoon

A wobbly knee

I've taken ill

What swell

Of me

Tom McGlynn

Stand together

Deep- heated dust

Behind the leavening stars

Arising of

Infernal froth

A blackening face

Of kerneled night

Housing

The ties

That bind

Us all

No matter

How dark

Recalls

The tide

As the solar

Winds

Don't really

Blow

Tom Mcglynn

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Share with me

Your missal

Friend

So that we

May burn it

At the end

Where prayer

Imparts

And paper

Rends

Tom McGlynn

Saturday, November 2, 2013

The rare thrush

Lay dead

With its eyes

Pecked

And beak open

Folded

To sing itself

Blind

To sleep

Tom McGlynn

Friday, November 1, 2013

Against those

Against those
Who hate to dream
Witness lamps are dewed
All sweetness flows
From welcoming
Love and hunger
Eating time

Damping ever slowly
A faithful morning flew

One to many

Refrains

Will kill

This chant

Uplifting

Before it's

Maiden

Is shaped out

Cut the lines

So this mooring

Won't get dancy

And silted up

With song

Way haul away

We'll haul away

Though

All the weigh

To sea

However many

Versus

Tom McGlynn