Looking Ahead to a Spring Trip to Washington, D.C.
I want to listen to your tales of triumph and disaster I want to massage your feet, long oppressed by heels I want to be present to all you cannot say I want to be…
Category: No Time for Poetry but Exactly What Is
The Last Few Pages of “The Poetry Deal” by Jessica Flier
Jessica is taking my Diane di Prima class, and posted this at our class blog. She gave me permission to share with whomever I wished. Enjoy! The last few pages of The Poetry Deal are…
Don’t Get Rattled by Samsara
So many of my brilliant former students— Their families from Gujarat, Bijar, Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal— Would pity me Or express incredulity That I, their erstwhile quasi-prof, Hang on the words Of Sri Anandamayi Ma…
For PG, on Her 68th Birthday
I celebrate yourself And sing yourself And what I absorb from the Western canon you can absorb from the Western canon, For every classic belonging to me as good belongs to you
Exchange
“But how come those Palestinians can’t be like Dr. King?” Well then… “So, Rabin, did he make it even through a third of Gandhi’s Collected Works? And did Shimon Peres invite Gene Sharp to give…
After Reading Brecht’s Galileo
We want heroes, role models, saints, exemplars Keep looking! Ramakrishna had his soft spot for the young lads, didn’t he? Howard Zinn had affairs Gandhi slept in his old age along side young Hindu relatives…
I Was Sitting Outside at 6 North Coffee
I bought tea for my friends Shams and Rumi Another intoxicatingly sunny day 70 degrees They were cutting up the way they always do But they could see in my eyes a request to quit…
Bella Levenshteyn Gives Me an Opportunity to Practice
“I’ll be filling two backpacks, and then I’m headed to Warsaw” My heart sinks Three deep breaths in and out My heart expands
When I Am a Supreme Practitioner of Self-Care
Having a rejuvenating ninety-four minutes On the phone when all alone With Bella Levenshteyn
Recognition Mantra for Driving on Highway 40
They are just like me They too want to go as fast as possible And not die On the way