Special Problems in Vocabulary

Credit: I Tore Up The Dictionary by crappydesktopwallpapers

There is no single particular noun

for the way a friendship,

stretched over time, grows thin,

then one day snaps with a popping sound.

No verb for accidentally

breaking a thing

while trying to get it open

 —a marriage, for example.

No particular phrase for

losing a book

in the middle of reading it,

and therefore never learning the end.

There is no expression, in English, at least,

for avoiding the sight

of your own body in the mirror,

for disliking the touch

of the afternoon sun,

for walking into the flatlands and dust

that stretch out before you

after your adventures are done.

No adjective for gradually speaking less and less,

because you have stopped being able

to say the one thing that would

break your life loose from its grip.

Certainly no name that one can imagine

for the aspen tree outside the kitchen window,

in spade-shaped leaves

spinning on their stems,

working themselves into

a pale-green, vegetable blur.

No word for waking up one morning

and looking around,

because the mysterious spirit

that drives all things

seems to have returned,

and is on your side again.

~ Tony Hoagland

Special Problems in Vocabulary

Credit: I Tore Up The Dictionary by crappydesktopwallpapers

There is no single particular noun

for the way a friendship,

stretched over time, grows thin,

then one day snaps with a popping sound.

No verb for accidentally

breaking a thing

while trying to get it open

 —a marriage, for example.

No particular phrase for

losing a book

in the middle of reading it,

and therefore never learning the end.

There is no expression, in English, at least,

for avoiding the sight

of your own body in the mirror,

for disliking the touch

of the afternoon sun,

for walking into the flatlands and dust

that stretch out before you

after your adventures are done.

No adjective for gradually speaking less and less,

because you have stopped being able

to say the one thing that would

break your life loose from its grip.

Certainly no name that one can imagine

for the aspen tree outside the kitchen window,

in spade-shaped leaves

spinning on their stems,

working themselves into

a pale-green, vegetable blur.

No word for waking up one morning

and looking around,

because the mysterious spirit

that drives all things

seems to have returned,

and is on your side again.

~ Tony Hoagland

The Word

 Down near the bottom

of the crossed-out list

of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”

and “broccoli” you find

that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word

is as beautiful, it touches you

as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present

he had sent you from some place distant

as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,

among your duties, pleasure

is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing

Do you remember?

that time and light are kinds

of love, and love

is no less practical

than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?

Tomorrow you may be utterly

without a clue

but today you get a telegram,

from the heart in exile

proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,

the king and queen alive,

still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them

who can find the time,

to sit out in the sun and listen.

~ Tony Hoagland

The Word

 Down near the bottom

of the crossed-out list

of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”

and “broccoli” you find

that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word

is as beautiful, it touches you

as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present

he had sent you from some place distant

as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,

among your duties, pleasure

is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing

Do you remember?

that time and light are kinds

of love, and love

is no less practical

than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?

Tomorrow you may be utterly

without a clue

but today you get a telegram,

from the heart in exile

proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,

the king and queen alive,

still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them

who can find the time,

to sit out in the sun and listen.

~ Tony Hoagland

I Have News for You

Photo credit: monosodium from morguefile.com

There are people who do not see a broken playground swing

as a symbol of ruined childhood

and there are people who don't interpret the behavior

of a fly in a motel room as a mocking representation of their thought process.

There are people who don't walk past an empty swimming pool

and think about past pleasures unrecoverable

and then stand there blocking the sidewalk for other pedestrians.

I have read about a town somewhere in California where human beings

do not send their sinuous feeder roots

deep into the potting soil of others' emotional lives

as if they were greedy six-year-olds

sucking the last half-inch of milkshake up through a noisy straw;

and other persons in the Midwest who can kiss without

debating the imperialist baggage of heterosexuality.

Do you see that creamy, lemon-yellow moon?

There are some people, unlike me and you,

who do not yearn after fame or love or quantities of money as

unattainable as that moon;

thus, they do not later

have to waste more time

defaming the object of their former ardor.

Or consequently run and crucify themselves

in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha.

I have news for you—

there are people who get up in the morning and cross a room

and open a window to let the sweet breeze in

and let it touch them all over their faces and bodies.

~ Tony Hoagland
_____________________________________________

Never forget that you must die; that death will come sooner than you expect... God has written the letters of death upon your hands. In the inside of your hands you will see the letters M.M. It means "Memento Mori" - remember you must die. 

 ~ J. Furniss, Tracts for Spiritual Reading 

I Have News for You

Photo credit: monosodium from morguefile.com

There are people who do not see a broken playground swing

as a symbol of ruined childhood

and there are people who don't interpret the behavior

of a fly in a motel room as a mocking representation of their thought process.

There are people who don't walk past an empty swimming pool

and think about past pleasures unrecoverable

and then stand there blocking the sidewalk for other pedestrians.

I have read about a town somewhere in California where human beings

do not send their sinuous feeder roots

deep into the potting soil of others' emotional lives

as if they were greedy six-year-olds

sucking the last half-inch of milkshake up through a noisy straw;

and other persons in the Midwest who can kiss without

debating the imperialist baggage of heterosexuality.

Do you see that creamy, lemon-yellow moon?

There are some people, unlike me and you,

who do not yearn after fame or love or quantities of money as

unattainable as that moon;

thus, they do not later

have to waste more time

defaming the object of their former ardor.

Or consequently run and crucify themselves

in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha.

I have news for you—

there are people who get up in the morning and cross a room

and open a window to let the sweet breeze in

and let it touch them all over their faces and bodies.

~ Tony Hoagland
_____________________________________________

Never forget that you must die; that death will come sooner than you expect... God has written the letters of death upon your hands. In the inside of your hands you will see the letters M.M. It means "Memento Mori" - remember you must die. 

 ~ J. Furniss, Tracts for Spiritual Reading