we’ve all been waiting –
we knew we would see them soon –
suddenly – they’re here!
Daffodils from our yard. I took the picture about eleven years ago. Every year we add more bulbs and we have more daffodils to start off spring!
other people have to find
disappointment:
the sentiment stayed at home
with me
right here in
the town
You can come in off the road,
The wind
is no matter for
The bitter voice
through the darkness.
“Join Me” in my collage poem book
Everyday life is full of drama, I think, and we take it all for granted, maybe don’t even notice it, if we’re not in the starring role.
Lined up by chance
commuting schedule
school drop-offs
going to the grocery cleaners library
all the cars waited
for the flagman
hopping from foot to foot in the frigid air
to pass them through
the work zone
Complications developed
when the commuter train blocked
the grade crossing
Every driver’s hand hovering
over the steering wheel
to press the horn
but not
because it’s no one’s fault
they all had to wait their turns
when a siren barely heard
over car radios
through closed windows
crying children
chattting carpoolers
then louder
Drivers’ eyes front
then to rear-view mirrors
The workmen moved away from the middle of the road.
Coming up ahead
a driver thinks
they all think
The vehicle approaches
An ambulance.
It moves quickly
efficiently
along the line
swings through the turn
the paramedics,
their faces
impassive, focused, calm,
in the front seat.
Gone just like that
the hospital is only two miles away
and they will be there
before the traffic clears
in the work zone.
A runner in a yellow shirt
darts through the line
the jackhammer starts up again
train gates lift
the cars start to move.
wise old head
clay tile, 2012
This collage poem is on the first page of my collage book. It’s not the first one I did; you might remember I said I mailed that one off and didn’t keep an image. Anyway, doesn’t matter. Here’s another collage poem, that’s what I’m trying to say.
well, it was like this
she wrote
with an effect of angry mockery,
beautiful qualities
turned into a cold timidity,
troubled with premonitions
I know her a little better than you do
Your sight blurred
You might take her for a friend,
faded from the weariness of too much dignity
halted by the angry voices of the crowd,
generous hopes vanished out of the confusion
If you don’t someone else will
“Aftereffect” on its page in my collage poem book.
Here’s the first collage poem I did. I don’t have an image for it, because I pasted it on to a mail art postcard and sent it out. I didn’t know I was going to like making this kind of poetry so much, so I didn’t bother documenting it. Anyway, here’s all there was to it – I had cut out pages and pages from a discarded library book, on the way to making a little book-box kind of thing with a scene in it – a kind of assemblage. I had the pile of superfluous pages in front of me and was idly pushing them around on the table, when the first sentence of the poem caught my eye. The rest just kind of fell into place – seemed natural to take other phrases and rearrange them into a new composition. Why, I don’t know, but it did.
I love the unexpectedness of the results when I make these poems.
Very well, fetch the pistols. I’m going
to coquette and domineer;
on Friday morning I’m going away
Perfectly happy
other pains and worries
removed somewhere beyond
emotion
Here is a collage poem from not too long ago.
whenever I see these
crazy
omens and portents
I have every reason to think
Someone unknown
read your mind
right this time
learned all this
instantly
soundlessly
immediately
scornfully
“The Fortune Teller Limps Along” on its page in my collage poem book.
Spring comes in fits and starts, and though it seems late for sleet, we had some last night. Sitting in a comfortable chair next to the window, I could hear it gently striking the glass. I was glad to be inside and warm.
Ice pellets tapping
behind the blank dark window
but the lamp glows on
“Three Years Ago in January”
collage
Seems to me that everything has to be considered from a number of viewpoints before a real assessment can be made, one that will stick. This thought occurred to me a few weeks ago as I looked around the neighborhood and thought about the surroundings – some people might see it as just another street with houses, like millions and millions of others. But there are a lot of layers of detail to look at and think about here if you take the time.
What’s a pretty sight
what’s not
A wrecked car parked in front of your house
not your car, count your blessings
pity the neighbors
and hope it’s towed away soon
A plastic children’s play set
glimpsed through your neighbor’s leafless hedge
lawn chairs stowed inside
Birds flocking around your bird feeder
bird seed litter all over the ground
A cat with one eye
who chews up the newspapers
you leave on the floor
and tries to run out the garage door
every time you open it
A cat with two eyes
who just sits
and wouldn’t consider going outside
The compost pile
the garbage can
A plastic bag snagged on a tree branch
too high for you to reach
in your front yard by the driveway
Unraked leaves blowing all over
your back-to-nature back yard
Hawk eating a squirrel
slowly
on your picnic table
Chicken wire fence around the garden
What’s a pretty sight
What’s not
You need to
give more thought to it
than I think you are
“Big Orange Tree”
Acrylics on masonite
It is not so easy to maintain order in a disorderly world. It helps if you don’t worry too much about this fact, but everyone has standards to uphold, it seems. Only it takes a lot of work sometimes, and so a shortcut here and there (and here and there) is not such a bad thing, I think.
The cat claws at the sofa
even in the best homes –
That’s what the cat does
or so I tell myself.
But how can I explain
the ink stain on the chair?
Let’s just say
the cushion will have a family side
and a company side
from now on.
And what about the cracked tiles
in the bathroom floor?
Try this –
Bathmat to the rescue.
I hear that even in the best homes
life’s full of cover-ups.
So I’m confident it’s OK
that we are doing it here, too.
“I Couldn’t Be Having More Fun”
mail art postcard
collage and acrylics on advertising card background
2012
Here are a couple of mail art items I’ve sent out that include poetry. Since they are postcards, anyone can read what’s on them. I like the idea of my thoughts making their way across the countryside, actually taking a trip here in this world, one that can be traced. The poems are short, as befits a postcard – just a little snippet of thought is all that’s needed.
First, the poems:
but
Then there was tomorrow
Homesickness whispering again and again
I understood that
Times have changed
when I heard it said
fortunetellers, they go to heaven
reward for
substantial popularity
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 