VISIONARIES ~

R E A D      M E

BUDDHIST SANCTUARIES OF LADAKH ~

White Orchid Books, 1987

JAMES KOLLER & BERTIE KOLLER ~

BARRELHOUSE BLUES ~

BUSTER KEATON ~

WHERE ART BELONGS ~

R E V I E W

WHERE YOU ARE ~

Where You Are

Fireflies when we

Swim at dark —

One in your hair where you are

Everlasting

Some things never change —

Under your dress

Hours later

Entirely feel

Our river swim

Contagious

Just the way your loose

Hair sweeps your cheek

Loosens me

More

drying off

from her bath

one lasting

water drop

between those

eyes

Purple Japanese Iris

Where you stand

They just about

Touch your lips

—————————

BOB ARNOLD

I'm In Love With You

Who Is In Love With Me

Longhouse 2012

MOSE ALLISON ~

FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY ~

A “missing” poster for Andrew Goodman, James Earl Chaney and Michael Henry Schwerner. 

In 2005, Mr. Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for their deaths.

R E A D      M E

SHIRLEY COLLINS ~

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