Old Poetry, Same Story

LEARNING ABOUT FRENCH GARDENS


Here it is, Eden
green and breathing mass
so many voices
it was not ours to make a Versailles of it,
rather
a way must be found to walk in it.
Let us not domesticate
make a barnyard of  beauty,
but let us
be brave enough.

(1971)


WHALE POEM

Following a rite of passage
north to south
to mate, bear young,
the great plankton eaters
pass slowly
pass the ancient way
filtering the ocean for its wealth.

    they kill the whale
    for oil, and various
    household purposes
    soap products, with which hands
    are washed clean

the great heart
can pump the water read
for 500 feet
the last thrust
of  pain
stirs the water
into turbulence that spreads out
a Mandela of loss
and falls on the coast
of Alaska.

    a blue whale was washed ashore
    in Maine
    they brought their cameras
    beach blankets and bee bee guns
    came to see
    this antediluvian creature
    laid to rest
    some left initials behind
    "JW was here"
    carved into the gray mass
    with pocket knives.

     1972

OCEAN PIECE

Think of this song

this song in you

    what is it?

what is this music you carry?

Think of this song in you

standing at the mouth

    mouth of the ocean at dark

into the darkness this song

    the ocean makes

one thought, an opening and  

singing the ocean, I pass

hold this song to you

it is not your own

you are a part of it