Thursday, March 28, 2024

Broken Bread Valentine

When we all took our places
In that borrowed sunlit room
The Kyrios was smiling
As he scanned our faces
Such a buoyant serious smile
I remember now when
His startling quiet eyes
Met mine I did try
To take him all in
When he passed the cup to me
Though I wanted to refuse at first
Please pass me by I mouthed
But he just waited smiling
Till I buckled to his will
And went running from that room

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

From Her Hands Valentine

In a yellow apron for the day
Madonna does her shopping
She gets up well before the sun
Building hot coals in the oven
She's making bread this morning
As she has for centuries for the feast
She lets me sit in her warm kitchen
Rolling the dough telling me stories
Of the amazing things he got up to
As a boy their long serious talks
Past bed-time him staggering
Around in the morning dark
A piece of bread in his mouth
Gathering his books for school

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

In Hot Pursuit Valentine

You are the missing person in my life
Were you kidnapped and killed
Buried in some moonlit field
Or simply walk away of your own will
No one seems to know
Yet you often left me clues
Of where you might be found
Usually in the next town
But when I'd get there
You'd have moved on
I can only say I'm following you
Except when I'm distracted
By the silliness of the thought
Of always trying to find you
When you are already here
And have been all along

Monday, March 25, 2024

Eclipse Moon Day Valentine

Today the bright palms of victory
Get trodden in the dirt
The morning after begins
With yesterday's news
The body-count that keeps breaking
In and out of consciousness
I like to think I have a phone for a mind
And locomotive eyes searching
For where he spent the night
A god does not want praise
So much as loyalty and courage
But still in his last days
Someone must bring him food
He must get some rest somewhere
Quietly gather all his strength
Getting ready to be ravaged

Do You Ever Valentine

Do you sometimes travel
In a muddled meditation
Down to the musty basement
Where the old ledgers are kept
The paper turning into papyrus
The history of love written
In numbers on the backs of checks
To burn or settle into compost
The smell of it brings me
Back to my senses fast
The garbage in the gut of things
We pick through suddenly
Realizing we may have
Thrown away the best

Saturday, March 23, 2024

On My Own I Bestowed Valentine

Doris and I Beau and I
Pam and I Paul and I
Bernie and I Pat and I
Scary Stranger and I
(I've forgotten your name)
Judy and I Dee and I
And Jess who woke me up
And John and Tony and I
Daniel and I David and I
A few pictures I can pull
Out of my pocket in heaven
Asking everyone I meet
Have you seen them
They're the reasons I am here

Friday, March 22, 2024

Thankful Valentine

I picture myself swimming
Far out on the ocean
Alongside an ocean liner
There are crowds along the decks
A few cheering me on
But most just watching
And I'm aware of whales
And sharks singing in the depths
Thankfully it's a sunny morning
Having spent the night
Sleeping on the waves
Floating on my back
Music drifting over me
From that sinking ship

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Beautiful Soul's Valentine

A small town is like a little school
Where the great arguments begin
The first separations and betrayals
The making and unmaking of friends
But when I heard you'd passed 
I remembered feeling meeting you
You were not from here
Your huge golden hair an aura
Around your Persephone face
I mean the way beauty can shock
And wake you up
Something beyond knowledge
Happened between us and now
In your passing still does

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Among School Children Valentine

That boy said my hair looks stupid
Her five year old face stares up at me
So hurt she's willing to share this
Even with an eighty year old stranger 
Come to visit her busy classroom
How does that make you feel I ask
But she just goes on staring
At such a stupid question
Sometimes boys your age
I try to explain are mean
To girls they are afraid of
And secretly want to be
Friends with but if you ask me
I can tell you your hair looks beautiful
My name is Peter what's yours

Monday, March 18, 2024

Whispered Valentine

Like the climates of different countries
The shifting moods of the world-I
All going on at once night and day
What kind of mind is this
Hurrying us all along
How much of it
Is it even conscious of itself
This child genius of the planets
I try to hold it in my little mind
When it laughs or cries out
My feeble fingers reach
For its giant hand I whisper
For whatever it's worth
I'm here I'm here

Sunday, March 17, 2024

When Valentine

I'm looking forward to keeping
A promise I made long ago
When I get done working hard
Trying to avoid it
Perhaps it was presumptious
A little grandiose of me
Caught up in the moment
So enthralled by your presence
I didn't wreigh what I was saying
Something lost I recognized 
In you that I was craving
But maybe I was selfish
And too hasty and didn't see
How much your love would save me

Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Art Of Gardening Valentine

Can you tell the dead-heads
From the still unopened buds
Guess the grasses from the weeds
Or feel what the crocus needs
Or search the clammy woods
For where the blood-root feeds
On what the naked maples bleed
Just before they drop their seeds
Out of all the catalogues you've read
Can you assemble in your head
A flood of color in a bed
A summer ascending from the dead
Will you be satisfied to find
The last of the asters burning red

Friday, March 15, 2024

Bought Valentine

Came the day I had to decide
Whether to live in a valley
Or on a higher hill to take
Instruction from a creek
Or look out over the world
I settled for a woods
On a rocky slope with a
Working well and a shack
Two rows of giant spruce
That formed a kind of cathedral
Where I still worship now years later
Those first days I built a fire
And watched the first snow fall

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Something Else Valentine

Sorry isn't quite enough
To bring back the spring
Something else must intervene
In the heart's underground
That stirs the stones to think
They might possibly be flowers
That someday it could happen
And the dizzy flowers start
To dream that they can fly
Right up out of the darkness
Of the putrid silly heart
So spring can ravage them
With a whole new sorrow 
And a whole new joy

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Not Far Valentine

Every morning around ten o'clock
I hear a sound I can't identify
From not so far down my street
An almost human screeching
Briefly three times
The wail of a child at first
And then metal scraping metal
Loud and piercing
Like a mechanical bird
Or locked-up baby monster
The song of its rattling chains
But why three times only
And why just when the sunny street
Reaches its most peaceful point
Must that beast let loose its cry