Theodore J. Kooser (April 25, 1939) A young woman in a wheelchair,wearing a black nylon poncho spattered with rain,is pushing herself through the morning.You have seen how pianistssometimes bend forward to strike the keys,then lift their hands, draw back to rest,then lean again to strike just as the chord fades.Such is the way this womanstrikes …
Emily Dickinson – Nature
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) Nature — the Gentlest Mother is,Impatient of no Child —The feeblest — or the waywardest —Her Admonition mild —In Forest — and the Hill —By Traveller — be heard —Restraining Rampant Squirrel —Or too impetuous Bird —How fair Her Conversation —A Summer Afternoon —Her Household …
David Graham – Listening for Your Name
David Graham As a father steals into his child's half-lit bedroomslowly, quietly, standing long and longcounting the breaths before finally slippingback out, taking care not to wake her,and as that night-lit child is fully awake the wholetime, with closed eyes, measured breathing,savoring a delicious blessing she couldn'tname but will remember her whole life,how often we …
Neil Gaiman – After Silence
Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (November 10, 1960 -) for Rachel Carson Seasons on seasons. The spring is signaled by birdsongcoyotes screech and yammer in the moonlightand the first flowers open. I saw two owls todayin the daylight, on silent wings.They landed as one and watched me sleepily.Oh who? they called. Or how, or how who?Then …
Kahlil Gibran — Defeat
Kahlil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,And sweeter to my heart than all world-glory. Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of footAnd not to be …
David St. John – Without Mercy, The Rains Continued
David St. John (July 24, 1949 -) There had beenA microphone hiddenBeneath the bedOf course I didn’t realize itAt the time & in factDidn’t know for yearsUntil one day a standardKhaki book mailerArrived & within itAn oldStained cassette tapeSimply labelled in black marker“Him / Me / September, 1975”& as I listened I knew somethingHad been …
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Pablo Neruda – I Like It When You’re Silent
Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904–September 23, 1973) I like it when you’re silent, for you seem as if you’re gone,and you hear me from afar, and my voice doesn’t touch you.It seems as if your eyes had flown away from you—it seems as if a kiss were sealing shut your mouth.Since each and every thing …
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Camille Rankine – Emergency Management
Camille Rankine The sun eats away at the earth, or the earth eats away at itself and burning up, I sip at punch. So well practiced at this living. I have a way of seeing things as they are: it’s history that’s done this to me. It’s the year I’m told my body will turn …
Reginald Dwayne Betts – If Absence Was the Source of Silence
Reginald Dwayne Betts (November 05, 1980 -) if absence was the source of silence some things my sons would never hear not from my reluctance to speak or the thief that is silenced his mother's tongue his grandmother's tongue turned the stare of the woman who when it's far too early for the Sun to …
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