The angel said there would be no end
to his kingdom. So for three hundred days
I carried rivers and cedars and mountains.
Stars spilled in my belly when he turned.
Archive for contemporary poetry
Posted by Paul J. Willis on
December 1, 2015
Mary at the Nativity
Posted by Paul J. Willis on
November 1, 2015
Song
Posted by Paul J. Willis on
October 1, 2015
October
I used to think the land
had something to say to us,
back when wildflowers
would come right up to your hand
as if they were tame.
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Posted by Paul J. Willis on
August 1, 2015
My Mother’s Teeth
Posted by Paul J. Willis on
June 1, 2015
Lights Out
Now the moth can stop
beating his head
hopelessly against the lampshade,
and I can forget about words that won’t come.
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Posted by Paul J. Willis on
May 1, 2015
Ascension Day
On good days
it appears we are all ascending.
Our spouses,
beginning to complain about something or other,
pick up the soggy dish-sponge instead.
The mail arrives on time.
We look at our children’s homework
and notice their spelling has improved.
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Posted by Paul J. Willis on
March 1, 2015
Prayer of the Turtle
Oh, Lord, Most High,
You surely must have thought
I needed permanent protection, and
I do thank you for the intricate
design I am told I wear on my back.
I only wish this house I carry
did not weigh quite so much.
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Posted by Paul J. Willis on
January 1, 2015
A Very Little Thing
A very little thing is rolling
down the street at dawn,
some little yellow thing, a lemon,
rolling down the center
of the street from the little
grove just up the hill.
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Posted by Paul J. Willis on
September 1, 2014
Proposal in a Modest Meadow
Monkeyflower crowds the foot of a waterfall
(those buttercup faces, up to something),
and a dipper flies the bends of the creek
down to a veil of mountain hemlock.
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Posted by Paul J. Willis on
February 1, 2014
Just after Groundhog Day
Just after Groundhog Day, summer begins
in Santa Barbara. Keen smells of blossoms
layer the air, the yellow bloom of mustard
weed and sourgrass and acacia fulfilling
their own prophecy on every side.
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Website by Michaels & Michaels Creative, LLC | Photography by Brad Elliott
Website by Michaels & Michaels Creative, LLC | Photography by Brad Elliott