Throughout God is a Lion I address the meaning and power of poetry. During the last twenty years I created handmade books of my own poetry and pieced together collages which give a visual dimension to the words. In 2013 and 2014, as I worked on God is a Lion, I reached a deeper understanding how the use of language in poetry creates an opening into the numinous presence of the real world. Sometime over the next two years I plan to put together another book which will include poems and collages and make it available to you through the website. I will keep you posted.
For R.M. Rilke
What shall we say to each other
having come out through
the back door
of unloved?
You laugh because
we are freer
than those who were
loved and
not so careless –
much as beggars
cherish match flames
cup light in
chalice corners
of the heart’s night.
from First Communions
the old priest’s hand damp shaking
tries to avoid touching the lips of the children
he nudges the dry wafers onto their tongues
but they taste his quivering chill
how the papery bread clings
to the roofs of their mouths
like a god frightened of
how holy they are
wild and alive
god swallowing god whole
down he slides into the
sweet moist dark their mothers made.
from The Four Cornered Heart
the fall of wind blowing the only conversation
overheard by beasts curled
in their birth nest of dreams
shadow grey rabbit hushes to snow…
the winter savior moves
with a frost of grace
blesses with ice white
all that hides beneath in
your four cornered heart.
from Freize, Apotropaic
across the pediment’s center a chiseled
lioness stretches
jaws clamped on the cow’s haunch under her
(bovine knees bending
heart bending in
moon sacrifice
arched above the cow’s head
seven carved teats
hang from the
belly of the lioness
one nipple
shattered
from this lit stone’s milk
that violent grace we are mothered by….
from Ancient Hosanna Wheel
this
tender color
woodland
an ancient
hosanna wheel
