AN EVENING WITH GARY SNYDER ~

POWER ~

Ken Letko

——————————


P O W E R




A tornado sway

her hips

through Nebraska



a Right whale

takes a breath

before a nap



a childless couple

adopts a dog

from the pound


——————————

Ken Letko
Bright Darkness
Flowstone Press 2017

EAST WINDOW ~

Wandering



A runaway son

     will never come

            into his own

My treasure

      is the cloud on the peak

            the moon over the valley

Traveling east or west

      light and free

            on the one road

I don't know whether

      I'm on the way

            or at home






To the Emperor's Messenger



The affairs of the world

      are nothing to me

            I am tired of coming and going

this poor hut is perfect for me

      the one possession

            of a monk who does nothing

In the stove

      there is no fire

            and no potato

so I have no time

      to wipe my mouth

            to greet the emperor's messenger






East Peak



From the beginning

      people have gazed in awe at Taigaku

            the East Peak

It shoots up into the heavens

       on it the sun rises

            the moon rises

Its original blue and yellow

      are not among the colors

            of other mountains

It will hold the spring sunlight

      year after year

            after year






For A Monk Going West



For many years

      our friendship

            has ripened

One morning

      you say good-bye

            and start down to the west

Stop trying to find the secret

      of succeeding

            as head priest

Look the sharp ax

      has been in your hands

            since the beginning



—————————————

EAST WINDOW
Asian translations by
WS MERWIN
Copper Canyon

BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE ~

R E A D     M E

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

2015

DREAMERS ~

Night Table

Here is part of you

While you sleep —

The small shine

Of silver earrings

Dreamers

To reach down at knee height

And bring your hands up under

Her dress and rise without

Hesitation or any resistance

Is naked

Naked

Round sunburn

Neckline of

Her blouse

A Tree Full Of Birds

for Janine Pommy Vega

That’s what I heard one morning

In a no-nothing town between

Phoenix and Tucson, where it

Appeared desolate and desperate

With a mall and motel and a big

Highway running through it all

And even the motel desk didn’t

Know the name of the route number

Of the highway when I asked the

Next morning with a desire to go

To the mountains north — as if no

One went to the mountains from here —

But I did, and before I left, hours

Before I asked any questions, birds

By the hundreds came to the trees and

Bushes of this motel square, dipping

Even into the swimming pool, and whether

It was sunrise that lit each bird yellow

Or if in fact they were yellow and each

Singing magnificently in the coolness of

Daybreak when I was awakened gladly

And stepped out my door and onto a long

Balcony to see and hear and feel the most

Beautiful day in the world begin

————————————

BOB ARNOLD

I'm In Love With You

Who Is In Love With Me

Longhouse 2012

TO RAMONA ~

YOUR GREAT ESCAPE ~

miss him

WRITER ~

W R I T I N G

AHARON APPELFELD ~

A H A R O N     A P P E L F E L D

The author has passed away

and left these beauties for us —

since I was a young reader

I preferred the design

and size of these

editions

JIM HARRISON ~

a little quip I wrote to daily friend and correspondent JD Whitney, also a Harrison reader ~

"Harrison’s book only becomes more engrossing since he is incapable of not sharing with us the fullness of life, and that includes his life. In this book that life is just how much he can eat, and live to tell us. And drink. And then sustain, and then get back at the frying pan again. He shares some beautiful ingredients of his life and travel as a writer, public audiences, interviews, and just what toll it takes on him. He isn’t complaining, he’s describing, and we know it’s a substantial and important difference. In some ways you feel you should be weeping for the man by the end of the book. In some ways, because he is so comfortable around food, wild and urbane, this may be his most revealing book mushing around in the stew. He is more a generation before his own — very literary in the best way, and a man’s man. Although in strict control as a writer, he appears almost out of control as a man."

M O R E !

Grove Press

2017

TROUBLE IN MIND ~

Bob Dylan: I believe in the Book of Revelation. The leaders of this world are
eventually going to play God, if they're not already playing God, and eventually
a man will come that everybody will think is God. He'll do things, and they'll
say, "Well, only God can do those things, It must be him." . . .(When) the new
kingdom comes in, people can't even imagine what it's gonna be like. There's a lot of
people walkin' around who think the new kingdom's comin' next year, and that they're
gonna be right in there among the top guard. And they're wrong. When it comes
in, there are people who'll be prepared for it, but if the new kingdom happened
tomorrow and you were sitting there and I was sitting here, you wouldn't even
remember me."
(1980s)

Lesser Gods
2017

FRED BASS (THE STRAND) ~

F R E D      B A S S

Book lover give thanks

HEAVEN LAKE ~

Heaven Lake ~ by Bob Arnold

New from Longhouse for 2018

Longhouse 2018

172 pages
 4 page color insert

Limited Edition

Poetry

 $18

Paypal or check ~ plus $2 shipping for US Orders ($20)

Buy through Paypal now for all U.S. orders —

International shipping, please inquire

poetry@sover.net

This book may be further found on ABE, Alibris, Amazon, Bibliofind

____________________

Longhouse

PO Box 2454
West Brattleboro, Vermont 05303

James Koller on Bob Arnold, Where Rivers Meet (Mad River Press)

All Longhouse books are large, strong, wrap titles

ready to rumble, tumble, sometimes grumble, never crumble

GUN CRAZY ~

Peggy Cummins, Gun Crazy's iconic femme fatale, dies aged 92

M O R E

MURAL ~

R E A D      M O R E

Verso 2017

DARLING COMPANION ~

————————————————

Darling Companion

We’ve come to the end of the highway

Breathless on the Panamint Range

You in a dress all blue buttoned

Down to the knees and a

Breeze parting your sweater —

I have a photograph where

You stand in sage against

A Route 395 road sign

Pointing us either north

Or south along a high

Spring snow Sierra sky with

No possible ending to the day

Yes I Can

We can’t afford

the quart of new

blueberries and

soft raspberries

but I can take

one of each off

the top and put

them in your mouth

Dance

I love her a bunch

but I love her maybe

the most when she

dances, and better

dances towards me,

with no one else

around or else our

minds would be on

something else, and

it’s in our living room

and some music comes 

on from the 60s and

she jumps up and with

no hesitation just starts

to dance, growing younger

by the second, and I can’t

tell if it’s music any longer

I’m feeling or is it her, the

hair, the eyes, the hands

beckoning me and only me

this is the wild of women —

if you’re stupid

you’ll continue to persist

in your thinking that man

is the king of the jungle

Vow

You can think there is

But there is nothing

Quite like you undressing

Me who has undressed you

————————————

BOB ARNOLD

I'm In Love With You

Who Is In Love With Me

Longhouse 2012

WE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DARKER THAN BLUE ~

PRIVATE CONCERT ~