By Thomas Page Le Masque de Lycées We waltz to a beat of six feet apart With our black masks hiding the stories of our teeth and beards Relying on kind eyes to say hello and good morning— A masque of sorts— To hide in our rooms in thirty-odd desks with only one occupant. Cinderella's … Continue reading Le Masque de Lycées and Other Poems
French Tanka
By Thomas Page I have been practicing French with the Tanka poem format. While this isn't a great example of either French or a Tanka, I would like to share these poems as an example of the practice of writing and mastering a form or a language Ce matin il y A mon anniversaire Veut … Continue reading French Tanka
Teaching Yates in the Autumn and Other Poems
By Thomas Page Teaching Yates in the Autumn Like the bachelor swan I sit at my monitor to a sea of blank profiles That are five-and-twenty I go over the lyric of a man in his autumn who grew to hate his motherland- The sixtieth swan— Floating in his Charon’s raft across the Irish Sea— … Continue reading Teaching Yates in the Autumn and Other Poems
The Purple Blossoms of Late Summer and Other Poems
By Thomas Page The Purple Blossoms of Late Summer In the plot by my porch purple flowers have bloomed During the Roman’s esteemed month To speckle the onions and the leeks Looking as clean as the weeds In the summer’s rains and shines. How pleasant are these surprises of nature Which see the green … Continue reading The Purple Blossoms of Late Summer and Other Poems
The Tourists of Sargasso Sea and Other Poems
By Thomas Page The Tourists of the Sargasso Sea Marine biologists have been baffled by the Sargasso Sea’s tubular tourists— The eel. The eel Seem to be the true Sexless Ageless Birthless Originless creature swimming along the warm streams. They have baffled the likes of philosophers and psychoanalysts With their knavish resistance … Continue reading The Tourists of Sargasso Sea and Other Poems
The Beasts
By Thomas Page Behemoth Behold mighty Behemoth Howling in sounds arcane Making the world anemic To its power amain. Its teeth gnawed shade yellow With choleric humour The many souls made hollow In their mandated stupor. However can I portray The disasters before me? The ruins tossed anyway Like an old spent fusee? A spoken … Continue reading The Beasts
Skeleton Crew and Other Poems by Thomas Page
Skeleton Crew The best way to scare someone is to justBeVeryStill. I was cast as a pirateWith burning embers in my beardAnd my hand clasped in a hookStationed with my skeleton crew—A motley crew of six, sparking pink sailors;Deader than a doornailTheir mandibles and maxillas permanentlyFixed in a cackle. I also had a treasure chest … Continue reading Skeleton Crew and Other Poems by Thomas Page
Mrs. Pearce
By Thomas Page In the eight houses I have lived in we have always lived with Mrs. Pearce. Now, Mrs. Pearce doesn’t say much but she always sits behind us at Thanksgiving Or listen to us as we opened gifts on Christmas. No one asked where Mrs. Pearce came from Or whether she would be … Continue reading Mrs. Pearce
Sweet Showers
By Thomas Page When the sticky air boils, sweet showers Pour down upon pilgrims making their way Somewhere as honored as Canterbury Looking for dissenting Thomases true As the horns of bulls parading in Spain. Every season turns as the graying clouds Baptize the pavement in its odor clean Of the pools they pull from—sower, … Continue reading Sweet Showers
Three Poems by Thomas Page
Lascaux Hold my hand against the wall And blow the pigment through the reed Here am I and there us all And everything that you need. There’s the cattle of the plain And there the bird of the sky. Avoid the horns that cause pain And the spots that lie. We’ve been here … Continue reading Three Poems by Thomas Page
Academy of the Heart And Mind 