Why do we gripe, comparing shadows?
The shadow is past.
Why choose to live in a shadow?
I want to tan with the richness of sunlight.

If I write about cavemen, do I need to go to a library?
Or can I just say the caveman’s first two words?
Fire. Wheel.

How to Measure
Life is measured by a watch and a ruler.
By the way, what time is it?

Walking Over Water
Stick falls off oak tree in winter’s bare delight.
Thin stick over deep water, chilled water.
“Courage!” I say to my bare tingly toes.

I put my mind in a time bottle.
Watch the particles of brain matter
funnel down
the sand trap called Time.

“Don’t be afraid to put your heart in the palm of your hands and shake the hands of your fellow human beings.” –Daniel Holland

Perched on the end of faded green roughened seesaw.
Roughened by sand poured over the board.
I went up and down, then suddenly stopped.
Stopped in midflight by a girl child turned woman.
She said, “Here I am!” with her eyes.
She made the sand feel solid.

Through the enchanted forest of postcards
I project frames
to each picture of time and space.
I can control what I do with time:
most of the time.
But what about an afternoon
of road construction delays?
Or, I’m waiting in line at the grocery store
and the cashier says, “Price check!”
Or, I’m waiting in line at the bank
and someone starts telling their
life […]

Freckles, why did you have sex with the poodle next door? Poor puppies have beagle faces and poodle hairstyles.
After the love affair of the poodle, your girlfriend was that St. Bernard. When the St. Bernard jumped on the gray, roughened, falling-down fence, it shook like an earthquake. Freckles came running on all four paws to […]

Here’s Daniel Holland’s fanciful description of his writing process.–JGR

I’m good at getting the hooks and baiting the hooks. I’m frustrated though, once my line is in the water. I don’t yet know how to play the line so I can get the bites and catch the fish.
There’s my line in the water, dangling, with no […]