daydreaming w/ Bob Arnold
from Song of Hiawatha
And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets,
The Wabenos, the Magicians,
And the Medicine-men, the Medas,
Painted upon bark and deer-skin
Figures for the songs they chanted,
For each song a separate symbol,
Figures mystical and awful,
Figures strange and brightly colored;
And each figure had its meaning,
Each some magic song suggested.
_______________________
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
So Light You Were
I Would Have Carried You
So light you were
I would have carried you,
hacked from the ice
a bridge,
you in my arms,
from February into April.
And crossed
above the snow
banked narrowing
the streets, this winter's
tired citizens, the erlking
and his foundling crossing.
Light as you were
I would have carried you
from the room
of your death back
to our room,
climbed back,
crawled up the stairs
to our bed.
From February into
April, hid in your arms
in the woods
frantic please.
Light as we were.
And could be carried out
on a float of last year's
leaves
and bracken thaw
rinsing the tide pools.
So light you were.
I would have carried you
from February
into April.
___________________________
Deborah Digges
Trapeze
Knopf, 2004
Parade - Music from the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon ℗ 1986 Warner Records Inc.
Heartbeat
Hold me
too
close to
tell
whose is
whose.
Echo
A lone
voice
in the
right
empty space
makes
its own
best
company.
Exposure
What you're
eager to
believe may
say more
about you
than you'd
be eager
to admit.
Ulysses
Even frailer,
bound for failure
die at sea or home
I roam.
________________________________
Robert M. West
A Clear Eye
Broadstone Books, 2026
