A few years ago I spent a feverish few days in the public library and at a couple different used book stores, pulling books from the shelves, opening to random pages, letting lines call out to me, and creating what I called "Assemblages" — joining the words of one author with another. Now I can't remember if I ever shared these ... and I want to .... so here they are.
this night
silent as a stone
untranslated
suddenly — a little rain —
what now?
Robert Hass, Praise
Leah Goldberg, Selected Poems
under the big sky
stars, like astral flowers
rise out of time
one more, one more, one more, much more
how patient they are
Robert Hass, Praise
Leah Goldberg, Selected Poems
W. S. Merwin, Finding the Islands
the ancientness of forever—
only the echo remains
and the mirror, frozen in a dream
there is something
to be said for silence
Robert Hass, Praise
Leah Goldberg, Selected Poems
Nikki Giovanni, The Women and the Men
daybreak — so loud
calls at the window —
I know it’s you
you were always
so shy
moon shadow
at an open window
just before you leave
sometimes I remember you
sometimes I can’t remember
W. S. Merwin, Finding the Islands
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Selected Sonnets
Grace Paley, Fidelity
open your hand —
what do you see?
an ocean thirsty for pearls
write your secret name on the rain
do it now
Audre Lorde, Undersong
Rumi, The Essential Rumi
between morning and night
never enough
years together
darkness covers everything —
in the end, I want nothing
Audre Lorde, Undersong
Rumi, The Essential Rumi
W. S. Merwin, Finding the Islands
fireflies
alone in the shadows
float orange, yellow, gold
this endless night
calls me out: lonely
Audre Lorde, Undersong
Rumi, The Essential Rumi
W. S. Merwin, Finding the Islands
Sylvia Plath, “The Disquieting Muses”
February morning —
an hour in warm rain —
find nothing, imagine nothing, fear nothing
a mountain —
ancient as time
Jane Austen, Persuasion
M. C. Richards, Centering
W. S. Merwin, Finding the Islands
listen —
this moment
turning to snow
who can remember yesterday?
Jane Austen, Persuasion
M. C. Richards, Centering
W. S. Merwin, Finding the Islands
remember one day —
the sun’s birth
the language of dance
name everything —
stars, plants, trees
forget everything —
all sound
stop going around and around
W. S. Merwin, “The Unwritten”
Joy Harjo, “Remember”
Gertrude Stein, “The teachers taught her that the world was round”
nothing is unlikely
your perfect mouth folding down
the crescent moon
everything
turns out to be story
one tear, alone, in this box
open the night window
spill your secrets
visit the snow one last time
Tom Wayman, Carol Ann Duffy, Shara McCallum, Christina Pugh, Charles Simic, Wesley McNair, Lisel Mueller, Kati Kapovich
