Tag Archives: Poetry

The price of popularity

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

The Shore by Rob A. Mackenzie It’s why the tourists arrive and why Time Out called Leith “one of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods”; why the sky is permanently blue and the sun flaunts the burnished stonework; why a red light area … Continue reading →

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Running Into A New Year

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Running Into A New Year I am running into a new year and the old years blow back like a wind that I catch in my hair like strong fingers like all my old promises and it will be hard … Continue reading →

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Hymn to Time

Posted on December 31, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

HYMN TO TIME by Ursula K. Le Guin Time says “Let there be” every moment and instantly there is space and the radiance of each bright galaxy. And eyes beholding radiance. And the gnats’ flickering dance. And the seas’ expanse. … Continue reading →

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We shall by morning Inherit the earth

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

MUSHROOMS by Sylvia Plath Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam, Acquire the air. Nobody sees us, Stops us, betrays us; The small grains make room. Soft fists insist on Heaving the … Continue reading →

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Still Autumn

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Autumn – Jane Hirshfield Again the wind flakes gold-leaf from the trees and the painting darkens— as if a thousand penitents kissed an icon till it thinned back to bare wood, without diminishment.  

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When the knock comes, it will be long ago.

Posted on November 8, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

THE FALL OF VARIA D. Nurkse The tanks from the Past rolled in this morning. Our neighbors crowded the curbs to cheer though only yesterday, they were snitching: A has prior tendencies, B has backward dreams… Already the old flag … Continue reading →

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when the light finally came

Posted on November 6, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Ada Limón’s poem “We Are Surprised”— Now, we take the moon into the middle of our brains so we look like roadside stray cats with bright flashlight-white eyes in our faces, but no real ideas of when or where to … Continue reading →

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For the sake of a single poem, you must see many cities

Posted on November 2, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Rainer Maria Rilke // “Ah, poems amount to so little when you write them too early in your life. You ought to wait and gather sense and sweetness for a whole lifetime, and a long one if possible, and then, … Continue reading →

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Mushroom Season

Posted on October 10, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

MUSHROOMS by Sylvia Plath Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam, Acquire the air. Nobody sees us, Stops us, betrays us; The small grains make room. Soft fists insist on Heaving the … Continue reading →

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Joy is not made to be a crumb

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Don’t Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. … Continue reading →

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