“to my dog/Nate/as he is finishing/a seizure/i repeat/i am with you”
a vine
wraps its way
up
a tree trunk
*
to my dog
Nate
as he is finishing
a seizure
i repeat
i am with you
*
as over
flow
he said
& meant
abundant life
5.2 & 4. 2023
don’t try
to do
too much
how does
the goldfinch
manage
transformation
will it rain
this morning
i remember her
by holding
her ashes
by giving them up
to the ground
japanese maple
aflame in late
light
how do you see it
taking notice
emptying your
self
the goldfinch
& the rose-breasted
grosbeak
5.5.2023 (2)
if the chimney
if the flesh
if the diagnosis
if the time he has
left
if the body responds
more slowly
if the pair of pileated
woodpeckers together
hammer the wood railing
if the morning
brings surprising moisture
if her voice
can only be imagined
if recollection or
the language of the crows
is somehow not enough
if the ferns gardenias &
wild roses have made it
to return & the deer
bed down in nearby woods
if there are no clouds
if her ashes
sit on a shelf
above my books
5.28.2023
tomorrow & tomorrow
is it there
hope the horizon
spoken against
brutal registry
of fact
true the beautiful
plume
covering the suddenly
temporary sky
7.10.2023(4) / Duncan Farm
for Patrick Pritchett
words arrive
in their own
sweet time a
somewhat older
person reaches the door
way into the
kitchen with little
sense as to
what prompted
this visitation
up the spine one
disc at a time
some noise in
mind
becomes a
phrase
oh dance the day
in common time
7.17.2023
up the ladder
to the home
not this house
but another
never more than
this first
winter-like day
sunrise &
steam rising from
golden brown grass
dormant as in
who is yet
to awaken
articles vanish
invisible subatomic
particles dance about
evading our crude
detection up
the ladder to
a hidden house.
11.23.2023 / Thanksgiving / Duncan Farm
Hank Lazer has published 34 books of poetry, including P I E C E S, which was released with BlazeVOX in 2022; When the Time Comes, which was released with Dos Madres Press in 2022; and field recordings of mind in morning (with 15 music-poetry tracks with Holland Hopson on banjo). Forthcoming in 2024 from Chax Press is Abundant Life: New & Selected Poems.
