Quote by Grotstien Poem by TA Delmore

When innocence has been deprived of its entitlement, it becomes a diabolical spirit.
(Grotstien 1984)




Light in the Foyer

That light will never be
the same. Its least intensity
was when the front door was open
and darkness absorbed all one hundred
watts of naked glow.
I remember the light as a liturgical
calendar.

After midnight mass
as we came through
the birth of Jesus
and swept steps.
Tangible gifts soon to be opened
but sleep first.

The porcelain switch
worked upstairs
to ward off nighttime strangers
or downstairs to uninvite
the evening. It had the same luminosity
for Easter Vigil inviting
Christ’s Resurrection.

It was the terminal light I saw
my father alive in; strapped to a gurney
dimmed like an over-exerted fuse
and no copper penny.

Quote by Robert Henri Poem by T A Delmore

Robert Hénri said in his wonderful book, The Art Spirit, written in 1923,
Do not let the fact that things are not made for you, that conditions are not as they should be, stop you. Go on anyway. Everything depends on those who go on anyway.


Missing Poster: Last seen 7/21/07


She was last seen in her room
By her mom-
Wearing a checkered skirt.

She was last seen by her dad-
Who is certain
Her eyes were always green.

She was last seen by her friends-
At school, carrying her blue
Backpack, slung low.

She was last seen by her brother-
From the adjoining heat vent
Near his bed.
She was naked.

She was last seen by her abductor
Who didn’t care
Who she was.

Poem: Thy will Not mine Quote: Walker Evans

Thy Will not Mine

Grace was weighted upon
By many books, stacked
In disarray,
showing just angles.
From memory: a Carvaggio
Angel, presenting conception
To a child unwed.

In presentation, the true weight
Of the universe penetrated
This virgin most pure.
She knew beyond years
That no amount of words
Laws, or skeptical husband
Would betray this moment.

All this mind you
From a stack of books
Waiting to be packed in storage.


Walker Evans said, "Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long."

Quote: Victor Frankel Poem: Post-Toddler Lesson

What is to give light must endure burning. Victor Frankel



Post-Toddler Lesson

The brown shoelace rests
Untied on the brown dining room chair
The lace looks like the ones that
Hold my baby shoes together today.

This is where I knelt
Maybe five but already
Sacramental- confessing to God:
“Help me make a bow and I’ll be good.”

The curse of the left handed is that
The teachers are right handed.
What they showed was frustration
Of labor knotted by a sibling bribe
If I got it right I could go or be left
Behind on a trip that now has no memory.

So many years later
Mom relinquished my baby shoes
Only after being placed in a brown bag
And only after a shoemaker had shined them.

What I received
Was un-bronzed
Shine of dull brown
Worn in heal and toe,
And goddammitt
Still untied!