summer plants

Oh how they grow these beautiful sprouts in the summer air!

There are poems meant to be written for this
and they are all melancholy and what not.
I only think of the tree with the big nub
And the firefly ring encircling us.
They chanted it all
in silent voices.
No need to pen it on paper
when it just dissipates in thin air
mixing with the still night.
Yes many words can lick the wounds dry
but the poem has been already written
so no more needs to be said.

A Poem Without a Single Bird in It

BY JACK SPICER

What can I say to you, darling,

When you ask me for help?

I do not even know the future

Or even what poetry

We are going to write.

Commit suicide. Go mad. Better people

Than either of us have tried it.

I loved you once but

I do not know the future.

I only know that I love strength in my friends

And greatness

And hate the way their bodies crack when they die

And are eaten by images.

The fun’s over. The picnic’s over.

Go mad. Commit suicide. There will be nothing left

After you die or go mad,

But the calmness of poetry.

“Any fool can get into an ocean . . .”

BY JACK SPICER

Any fool can get into an ocean   

But it takes a Goddess   

To get out of one.

What’s true of oceans is true, of course,

Of labyrinths and poems. When you start swimming   

Through riptide of rhythms and the metaphor’s seaweed

You need to be a good swimmer or a born Goddess

To get back out of them

Look at the sea otters bobbing wildly

Out in the middle of the poem

They look so eager and peaceful playing out there where the

    water hardly moves

You might get out through all the waves and rocks

Into the middle of the poem to touch them

But when you’ve tried the blessed water long

Enough to want to start backward

That’s when the fun starts

Unless you’re a poet or an otter or something supernatural

You’ll drown, dear. You’ll drown

Any Greek can get you into a labyrinth

But it takes a hero to get out of one

What’s true of labyrinths is true of course

Of love and memory. When you start remembering.

summer salad

persian cucumbers
watermelon
fresh feta
dash of sea salt
lime
olive oil
shredded mint
toss!

oh yes!

inspiring

"It is as true today as it ever was. He who seeks beauty will find it"