Unnamed Pain What dreadful scorching is this? What consuming blaze Rages through smoldering blood? What fire refuses to die? What swelling festers in […]

Isaiah 62 No longer shall you be called Forsaken, Nor your land named Desolate. No longer parched, no longer damned, No longer flung like a stone in […]

Isaiah 58 Thus speaks the Lord: Is this not the fast I choose: To loosen wicked chains, Undo the choking yoke, Set the oppressed free? Is this not […]

Moment and Wink A moment! A moment glimmers in your eyes, The cradle of compassion. How you looked at me— My nerve paths startled, Your gaze […]

Sigh Double rondeau I She belongs with fruit, yet lies among sprouts. Her waterworks cannot be stopped; From the crisper drawer comes sobbing […]

For Ludwig W. “Found” is not the word, but rather “encountered.” You picture only what you seek, For you have fixed yourself upon the notion; […]

Found “Found” is not the word— Rather: encountered. To find is to discover what you sought; Desire precedes it. Encountering happens […]

Ode to Remco Campert A film clip from the nineteen-fifties Awoke the faded hues of memory: A farmer in blue smock and wooden clogs, And women […]

Roderwolde Poet on a Bicycle It did not work in Roderwolde, But when he cycled further on, Across a wide and open tract, As soon as he had left the […]

River The Shield of Achilles The Cows The cows driven in gold and in tin: They long to move, eager to begin— Out of the stall to greening grasses. […]

Last Plea I do not know how much time you have— No more than a few moments, A few ticks of the second hand, And it has passed again. Life is lived […]

Between Dream and Thought Marforio speaks: After all these words you wonder: Are dreams the same as thoughts? Does the report of restless nights— […]

Rural Silence How calm the polder plains. Birds shuffle at their leisure, Sky untroubled, though smoke trails rise. Abandoned buildings, it would […]

Silence in the Circle It remains deathly quiet in Myriade, muses Marforio. The hearth-fire fades; Only two loud gentlemen shout, Tasting kidneys and […]

Trill Notes Who would not cherish a friend like you? Gifted with language, formidable in debate, Never too proud for playful jest. Crack and clash […]

Flabbergasted At first it seemed I could not recover— Stunned, flushed, amazed and baffled, Duped and nearly dazed By so many galloping thoughts. I […]

On Mockery (during the National Bird Count) Where lies the line between earnest and jest? (I note the trochee is the resident bird.) I confess I like […]

Last Word One final sonnet to conclude quickly now. Soon we will leave and release the line. One more curtain call—and then it falls. We were so […]

Whirlpool Seated on the edge of raging thoughts, Looking out upon the waves of a wild stream. Thinking boils and seethes in vapor and white steam, […]

Church Fire Arson Darkness reveals unspeakable thoughts. At night I become a troll, a sinister gnome, Malicious as the growth of a carcinoma, […]

Break-in Detonation (Marforio interrupts) We are not lavish with deep thoughts. Secrets are pivot points of our genome. Though we rarely keep them in […]

Trisomy 21 The Different Ones Where shall we bring him, I wonder again— Take, say, the Down Syndrome Foundation. It comes from a duplicated […]

Rondeau of the Lord O Lord who seeks to scorch the human soul By tightening Your rule again and again! That You are brain-dead—we have known it […]

Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:19 We women stand ready to bring her our offerings. We bake image-cakes for the Queen Of Heaven. Much honey goes into them. In […]

The Dressing Room The mask through which I encounter myself: Stripped of myself and all my possessions. Who would not wish to mask his defects? To […]

Narrow Escape A disaster avoided by a hair’s breadth! Not so very long ago I gasped for air, Oppressed and fearing danger, As if ridden by a […]

Two Clowns Double Rondeau Rondeau I The white clown with glitter sleeves And high question-mark eyebrows Cannot hide his amazement, For here comes […]

The Strandbeest The Strandbeest comes—so brace yourself. There it strides through the dune landscape. It bears the name of Theo Jansen, Who managed […]

Le petit pan de mur jaune The little yellow patch of wall—behold How here a primal Dutch genius Depicted the view of Delft. There stands the Old […]

Crackling Projectors Celluloid lies turning sour. It will not be long now Before the image archive fades And reels disappear. Who did not enjoy […]