November 2016
Milkweed
We are honored to publish this poem by Dorian Brooks. It has just been awarded first prize in the 2016 Arlington (Massachusetts) Poetry Contest by well-known poet Susan Donnelly. Dorian has published the poetry volumes A Pause in the Light and The Wren's Cry.
Milkweed
“Do you love your life?”
my friend asked. And if
we hadn’t been walking
through September fields
with cobalt skies
sifting gold around us,
and if I hadn’t just
pulled a milkweed pod
from its stalk,
split the ripe pouch
and run my finger over
the little silken fish-scales –
each brown seed
ready to fly –
…Oktober 2016
Eilenriede
Eilenriede
(our woodsy park in Hannover)
The green today
is dark and solid;
its massive walls surround my path
block out the light
and mute
contrasting colors.
On either side
I barely see
a tree trunk standing out,
no branches
marking patterns
behind a screen of leaves.
I raise my eyes
and hope to find
a slice of blue above,
or shaft of sun
streak down
to part
the darkling wood.
I stand awhile and ponder,
well past the middle
of my life, still
waiting for enlightenment.
(October 2016)
September 2016
THE EVENING NEWS!!! A RANT
THE EVENING NEWS!!!
A RANT
As a rule we like to watch the PBS Evening News. We have come to rely on Judy Woodruff’s perfectly pitched tone and narrative of the day's events, whether tragic, worrisome or – occasionally – cheering. And the informative, sensitively delivered reports and interviews of Jeffrey Brown and the rest of the crew help us digest the often complex material as easily as our tv dinners. But once in a while we stumble into a network version of the nightly news, and the difference is, well, like night and day.
For some years now we’ve complained, along with most…
Tending the Fire
Tending the Fire
(German translation below)
I must be in a bad way.
Arranging the logs on the hearth
I sense
an obscure stirring,
the shadow of a feeling.
With warming care
I prod and coax
the brittle nobby shapes
until they fall and lie
against each other
with perfect fit and closure –
and so ignite,
their rising heat
sucked into sudden flame.
Really,
I must be in a bad way,
to be so comforted
by the sight
of two old logs
getting it on.
(April / June, 1986)
Das Feuer hütend
Es muss schlimm um mich stehen.
Ich arrangiere das Holz im Kamin
Und spüre
eine unklare Regung,
den…
Milder Abend
Milder Abend
Im Radio schwelgt
eine Frauenstimme:
Monteverdi.
Von draußen höre ich
den Frühlingsvogel:
Regen kommt.
Es singt und singt
und hört nicht auf:
pulchra est amica mea.
(April 29, 1986)
