Linda Schrevens and I wrote this poem together. Here’s a reading we performed (a link to a file on Google Drive).
Adagio
the world weeps
gray clouds scrape the pine trees
a yellowing willow sways as if
dancing to invisible music
outside the salty window
somewhere the Pope's spirit
joins the air
a clock tick tick ticks --
a faucet that won't turn off --
time leaking from a dull April sky
despite the rain a cardinal calls
hides its starling red in a bending fir
I'm trying to say something --
two flags writhe
against the dull sky --
American, Wisconsin --
tugging back and forth
snapping and whipping
then subsiding but still moving
I am too tired to weave them
into any metaphor
empty of any
deeper meaning
what happens when we die?
(how does it feel)
what does it mean to love
utterly and completely?
what are the trees telling
each other?
Is my father in the wind or
the rain?
how do we know when we're done?
the last prayer
word
breath
each moment ripe
full tilt toward
the lip of existence
