By Thomas Page I am student teaching a senior level class in Washington, DC. They have to write some poems on these prompts. I decided to try all 30 of them. However, I will not say what the prompt was but what it number was. Prompt #20 It’s hard to find shoes in a men’s … Continue reading “Piedmont”
The Untranslatable: Yuputka
By Thomas Page This is a series of poems of words that do not directly translate into English. I have tried to capture the essence of the word in a poem. Walking barefoot in a glen ruled by the moon When the equinox is closer than the solstice was far The ground is alive … Continue reading The Untranslatable: Yuputka
Alphabets: Omega
By Thomas Page Endings either come too soon or too late. The theatergoers itching to move Watching the actor butcher the iamb times five; The shoe on the gas-pedal rolling the ankle With the hand primed on the horn; The pilgrims waiting for the pilgrimage to end So that they can lay their head on … Continue reading Alphabets: Omega
Alphabets: Psi
By Thomas Page I know the voice in my head but can’t describe it well. It accompanies me wherever I read And fills in the empty silences with reflection Like a fax machine chugging along in this day and age Sitting by a summer window Thinking of the birds and the leaves swaying in the … Continue reading Alphabets: Psi
Alphabets: Chi
By Thomas Page Sometimes but not always there is a chiasmus Between strangers as they pass And they just know that this was meant to happen Without a word to isolate them Or a gesture to consolidate them Just a moment to exist And share in something beyond what can be said In any tongue … Continue reading Alphabets: Chi
Alphabets: Phi
By Thomas Page There is a balance of things made by hands That pleases its eyes in its accordance To what should be and what will be Crafted in the image of something more than itself. This ratio called golden by the eye Sits like a shell circling on itself Like the Uzumaki upon itself … Continue reading Alphabets: Phi
Alphabets: Upsilon
By Thomas Page The quality of mercy— The groves of the heart— Seem to bloom when the air is ebullient And wither when the air is dense With the situations associated with the hurricanes Gusting away all senses humane. However, the fruit of mercy should not be confused with the seeds of discontent Which like … Continue reading Alphabets: Upsilon
Alphabets: Tau
By Thomas Page There’s something comfortable in what the Modernist hated— The risk of routine settling fauve motions into mechanics-- That define the human part of the spirit The need for consistency in each experienced sunrise That sets the stage for the actions most desired by the critics The permanent fourth wall that looks at … Continue reading Alphabets: Tau
Alphabets: Sigma
By Thomas Page My many years can be summed in on a transcript Marking each of my earned three-hours with a letter And a decimal’d point to a larger number That makes me summa or magne or not At the end of it all on a May day. Can I sum it all up in … Continue reading Alphabets: Sigma
Alphabets: Rho
By Thomas Page Everything in its essence has a point Somewhere on a quantifiable map On this green rock in the black, a bluepoint May hold all of the gravity and sap Forces like saline water that pinpoint Everything ever said into a snap Of a shell sitting in sand at gunpoint Of scheming poets … Continue reading Alphabets: Rho
Academy of the Heart And Mind 