By Thomas Page If I had one day unrelentingly noted By an expatriate in some Romantic country Twenty or so years from now What would they say? How would they start? With rambling thoughts as I groggily wake up? What would be important? What I ate? Drank? What I did on my phone? … Continue reading Bloomsday
Bells
By Thomas Page Each high school seems to have a bell, Not a bell in the liturgical or civic sense, A bell of copper or metal Hung in its own tower Visible to the people underneath it. School bells hidden somewhere in the wall. Hundred odd bell towers in the concrete Like the hallways … Continue reading Bells
Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
By Thomas Page I visited the place where I was born when I was ten-ish. Like most people my age it is a hospital. A place frozen in that January for my family However, many years ago you read this poem. It is beige-looking With a koi pond in the middle Water enclosed in … Continue reading Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
Glassjawed
By Thomas Page What is the strongest point of your face? Trace the hallows of orbitals and nose, Blows made in boxing would fell anyone, Won by the impression that the face is His keystone. All faces become glassjaws ‘Cause a good southpaw to the mandible. Reasonable people know mixed-martial arts Parts anyone with … Continue reading Glassjawed
Oral Poets
By Thomas Page Rage Pantheons Man and war Midlife Deviled angels Overthrown gods Caribbean fishermen Seafarers Warriors Nation-founders connected with nature All rhapsodies by remembering voices Trained by generations Forging new dawns And kingdoms And harmonies And memories.
Dam
By Thomas Page A concrete wall blocks a river Making a lake Or not. Human’s creative hand To shape the land in its image. Stewards of the desert Or any arid place Baptized in life-giving water. A great roar reverberates From the concrete wall. A krypton waterfall with internal rage, Eternal rage … Continue reading Dam
A Portrait
By Thomas Page Trying to capture someone’s essence, When they are no longer with us, Is like trying to replicate mummy-brown, Or Homer’s wine-dark seas, Or the rose of Augustus’ statues, Or the kinetic motion of Van Gogh, Or the undulations of O'Keeffe, Or the that shade of blue of Matisse, Or the stinging … Continue reading A Portrait
“Ithaca” (Haiku 196-203)
By Thomas Page A father and son, Telemachus and The lost Odysseus Penelope’s basket and Sisyphus’ rock; Both always undone Dyed-blue bearded god, Brother heavenly thundered, Mimics by shaking Homer’s xenia, Custom hospitality, Stories and cyclops Boiling marrow Dry from bones, fear slowly cooks Courage from strong legs The eagle and geese War in Penelope’s … Continue reading “Ithaca” (Haiku 196-203)
“Secondary” (Haiku 204-209)
By Thomas Page Numbers, decimals Black strokes on a page, A grade book or old ledger Chalk-coated blackboards Hung scuffed off white walls; Academic yin and yang A snow warning on The news. No delay did the District. Go to school. Colorless ice does Not shine when headlights happen Upon frozen streets A rainbow of … Continue reading “Secondary” (Haiku 204-209)
A Response to Francis Bacon’s “The Four Idols”
By Thomas Page Can science answer everything? Why does your phone keep deleting your notes? Ask science. Why do monarch butterflies migrate every year through California? Ask science. How do I cook ramen in less time? Ask science. Francis Bacon says in his essay “The Four Idols” that science is the true path to knowledge. … Continue reading A Response to Francis Bacon’s “The Four Idols”
Academy of the Heart And Mind 