Posted on April 8, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com
Darling Coffee

The periodic pleasure

of small happenings

is upon us –

at the farmer’s market

snow glinting in heaps,

a cardinal its chest

puffed out, bloodshod

above the piles of awnings,

passion’s proclivities;

you picking up a sweet potato

turning to me ‘This too?’ –

query of tenderness

under the blown red wing.

Remember the brazen world?

Let’s find a room

with a window onto elms

strung with sunlight,

a cafe with polished cups,

darling coffee they call it,

may our bed be stoked

with fresh cut rosemary

and glinting thyme,

all herbs in due season

tucked under wild sheets:

fit for the conjugation of joy.

~ Meena Alexander 

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You See I Want a Lot

Posted on April 7, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com
You See I Want a Lot

You see, I want a lot.

Perhaps I want everything:

the darkness that comes with every infinite fall

and the shivering blaze of every step up.

So many live on and want nothing,

and are raised to the rank of prince

by the slippery ease of their light judgments.

But what you love to see are faces
that do work and feel thirst.

You love most of all those who need you

as they need a crowbar or a hoe.

You have not grown old, and it is not too late

to dive into your increasing depths

where life calmly gives out its own secret.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

(translated by Robert Bly)

Posted in Daily Offerings | 3 Comments

Let’s Go Home

Posted on April 6, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com 
Let's Go Home

Late and starting to rain, it’s time to go home.

We’ve wandered long enough in empty buildings.

I know it’s tempting to stay and meet those new people.

I know it’s even more sensible

to spend the night here with them,

but I want to go home.

We’ve seen enough beautiful places with signs on them

saying This is God’s house.

That’s seeing the grain like the ants do,

without the work of harvesting.

Let’s leave grazing to cows and go

where we know what everyone really intends,

where we can walk around without clothes on.

~ Rumi

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Red Brocade

Posted on April 5, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com

Red Brocade

The Arabs used to say,
When a stranger appears at your door,
feed him for three days
before asking who he is,
where he’s come from,
where he’s headed. 
That way, he’ll have strength 
enough to answer.
Or, by then you’ll be 
such good friends
you don’t care.

Let’s go back to that.
Rice? Pine nuts?
Here, take the red brocade pillow.
My child will serve water
to your horse.

No, I was not busy when you came!
I was not preparing to be busy.
That’s the armor everyone put on
to pretend they had a purpose
in the world.

I refuse to be claimed.
Your plate is waiting.
We will snip fresh mint
into your tea.

~Naomi Shihab Nye

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Some Like Poetry

Posted on April 4, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com

Some Like Poetry

Some –
thus not all. Not even the majority of all but the minority.
Not counting schools, where one has to,
and the poets themselves,
there might be two people per thousand.

Like –
but one also likes chicken soup with noodles,
one likes compliments and the color blue,
one likes an old scarf,
one likes having the upper hand,
one likes stroking a dog.

Poetry –
but what is poetry.
Many shaky answers
have been given to this question.
But I don’t know and don’t know and hold on to it
like to a sustaining railing.

~ Wislawa Szymborska
(translated by Regina Grol)

Posted in Daily Offerings | 3 Comments

does it happen to you?

Posted on April 3, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com

So, does April sneak up on everyone like this, or is it just me? How can I be this caught off guard every year?! 🙂 In any case, here we are! Welcome back to the celebration! Hopefully it will not be as chaotic throughout as it feels to me now. Not to worry – I’ll hit my stride soon enough (I hope!).

Wonderful to have most everyone back. I’ve gotten a few bounce backs on the emails and I’m still trying to sort those out. Great to have a few new comers to the mix as well.

I hope you all have an amazing first week of April!

This April is pretty special, it marks the 20th Anniversary of National Poetry Month. National Poetry Month was started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 and has become the largest literary celebration in the world ~ I am grateful that we can share this small part of it together. If anyone celebrates this month in other ways, I would really love to hear about it.

Wishing you the best April yet….

  • your faithful poetry pimp.
Posted in Mad Ramblings | Leave a comment

Making a Friend

Posted on April 1, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com 
 Making a Friend 

I made a friend out of what was there: 
The legs of a table, the arms of a chair, 
A big head of lettuce with two ears of corn, 
The seat of a sofa all tattered and worn, 
The mouth of a pitcher, the tongue of a shoe, 
The teeth of a comb just to help him to chew, 
The face of a clock and the spine of a book, 
The heart of an artichoke too tough to cook, 
The eyes of a tater through which he could see, 
The hands of a clock just for wavin' at me. 
And the fun that we'll have 
And the games that we'll play 
And the secrets we'll share 
And the prayers that we'll pray 
As here close together we sit in the shade - 
Me and this brand-new old friend I just made. 

~ Shel Silverstein
Posted in Daily Offerings | 4 Comments

The hour just before

Posted on March 29, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com

This is the hour just before the party ~ April is upon us once again. Has it been a whole year already?! It has been a crazy one for your poetry pimp, leaving me as certifiable as ever. For those of you that don’t know I was evicted by an evil landlord this past Autumn. In many ways, it truly was a blessing in disguise but at the time lead to some extremely frantic packing and moving. I had lived there for eleven years and needless to say there was a lot to be packed. Most of my things are still in boxes, housed in the homes of some amazing family and friends.

This of course means that I don’t have the easiest access to a lot of my source materials that were always on standby. But we are all here and together again, what could be more important than that?

It is April, and the poetry will find a way.

I’ll see you again on Friday my fellow fools.

Mwah.

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I Love the Hour Just Before

Posted on March 29, 2016 by tamolantern@gmail.com

I Love the Hour Just Before

a party. Everybody
at home getting
ready. Pulling
on boots, fixing
their hair, planning
what to say if
she’s there, picking
a pluckier lipstick,
rehearsing a joke
with a stickpin
in it, doing
the last minute
fumbling one does
before leaving for
the night like
tying up the dog or
turning on the yard
light. I like to think
of them driving,
finding their way
in the dark, taking
this left, that right,
while I light candles,
start the music softly
seething. Everything
waiting. Even
the wine barely
breathing.

~ Todd Boss

Posted in Daily Offerings, teaser/test/preview | 2 Comments

The First of May

Posted on May 1, 2015 by tamolantern@gmail.com

The First of May

The orchards half the way
From home to Ludlow fair
Flowered on the first of May
In Mays when I was there;
And seen from stile or turning
The plume of smoke would show
Where fires were burning
That went out long ago.

The plum broke forth in green,
The pear stood high and snowed,
My friends and I between
Would take the Ludlow road;
Dressed to the nines and drinking
And light in heart and limb,
And each chap thinking
The fair was held for him.

Between the trees in flower
New friends at fairtime tread
The way where Ludlow tower
Stands planted on the dead.
Our thoughts, a long while after,
They think, our words they say;
Theirs now’s the laughter,
The fair, the first of May.

Ay, yonder lads are yet
The fools that we were then;
For oh, the sons we get
Are still the sons of men.
The sumless tale of sorrow
Is all unrolled in vain:
May comes to-morrow
And Ludlow fair again.

~ A.E. Housman

Posted in Daily Offerings, Friday Bonus! | 2 Comments