“The Bungler” by Amy Lowell [w/ Audio]

You glow in my heart
Like the flames of uncounted candles.
But when I go to warm my hands,
My clumsiness overturns the light,
And then I stumble
Against the tables and chairs.

“The Wind Shifts” by Wallace Stevens [w/ Audio]

This is how the wind shifts:
Like the thoughts of an old human,
Who still thinks eagerly
And despairingly.
The wind shifts like this:
Like a human without illusions,
Who still feels irrational things within her.
The wind shifts like this:
Like humans approaching proudly,
Like humans approaching angrily.
This is how the wind shifts:
Like a human, heavy and heavy,
Who does not care.

“In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound [w/ Audio]

The apparition of these faces in a crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

Perilous [Haiku]

spider scurries
across sands beside
lapping waters.

Be Water [Free Verse]

The floating feather
that eludes my grasp
isn't haughty or gleeful.

It just rolls, slips, glides,
and is gone.

Mountain Envy [Free Verse]

Ah, the mountain!
Old enough to know
When to stay quiet,
And disciplined enough
To stick to it.

“The Dawn” by William Butler Yeats [w/ Audio]

I WOULD be as ignorant as the dawn,
That has looked down
On that old queen measuring a town
With the pin of a brooch,
Or on the withered men that saw
From their pedantic Babylon
The careless planets in their courses,
The stars fade out where the moon comes,
And took their tablets and made sums--
Yet did but look, rocking the glittering coach
Above the cloudy shoulders of the horses.
I would be -- for no knowledge is worth a straw --
Ignorant and wanton as the dawn.

Spillage [Free Verse]

What spills from the brush?
What shapes are made
on the page?

What curves? What lines?
What crosses? What binds?

Who will chase after the sparks
of meaning in those wild marks?

The Dance [Free Verse]

What force dances one 
into this lovely state?

Light & ecstatic,
Blissful but calm.

Each breath a drug
that sends delicate
shimmers rippling
through the universe.

What force, indeed?

Swimmingly [Free Verse]

Swim through the world
- effortlessly -
Don't crave speed;
Maximize the glide.

With each stroke,
Sail as far as the limbs
will send one.

Don't thrash. Don't splash.
Don't gasp.

Feel the catch. Feel the pull.
Don't let short, wild motions
exhaust one.

Breathe!

Be wary of drag.
Put less effort
into propulsion,
And more into streamlining --
Shoot through the void,
without struggle.

Never lose sight of the value
of a good glide.