{"id":1470,"date":"2025-08-06T09:44:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T13:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/new_staging\/?page_id=1470"},"modified":"2026-01-25T15:08:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:08:49","slug":"text-audio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/?page_id=1470","title":{"rendered":"Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"cs-content\" class=\"cs-content\"><div class=\"x-section e1470-e1 m14u-0\"><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e2 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-3 m14u-q m14u-r\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e3 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e4 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1n\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Poems from <em>The Devil's Fools<\/em><\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e5 m14u-1 m14u-4 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-a m14u-b m14u-c m14u-q m14u-s\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e6 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e7 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Lit With Radiance<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e8 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Lit-With-Radiance-1222-5.22-PM-copy.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e9 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p>Joy oscillates to sorrow as a dolphin<br \/>\nbreathes one element to move in another,<\/p>\n<p>as a butterfly eats the plant\u2019s green solids<br \/>\nwhen it crawls, the nectar when it\u2019s winged.<\/p>\n<p>Sorrow fathoms glory as a tree\u2019s roots<br \/>\ncurl irregular in shape and thickness,<\/p>\n<p>unsteadying the outline of its trunk.<br \/>\nGlory rouses joy the way a mystery<\/p>\n<p>comes close to shadow, or a shoulder<br \/>\nleads the knee from ground to space<\/p>\n<p>where curvature saddles the known universe.<br \/>\nJoy announces sorrow in the wish to live<\/p>\n<p>in many countries, turn all corners,<br \/>\nmarvel at the streets, and wash them.<\/p>\n<p>Sorrow ambers glory inside shabby rental houses,<br \/>\nmotes of sunlight, pollen, shoes well broken in.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e10 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-e m14u-f m14u-q m14u-t\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e11 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e12 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Dog Day Harvestfly<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><span class=\"x-image e1470-e13 m14u-24 m14u-25\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/annual_cicada_js-768x528-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" alt=\"Cicada\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/span><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e14 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-21 m14u-22\"><p>Clamped upon ribbed ridges<br \/>\nwhere shell cracked a central seam<br \/>\nthe full-grown harvestfly emerges aqua<br \/>\nlighter blue than anywhere in nature,<br \/>\ntwo three-inch wings<br \/>\nspread not yet for flying<br \/>\ndrying.<\/p>\n<p>To the brown shell of a nymph<br \/>\nthat grubbed on root juices three years<br \/>\n\u2014whose empty feet<br \/>\nwill grip the cohosh leaf<br \/>\nuntil the next great wind\u2014<br \/>\nclings the origin of faerie.<br \/>\nTo a dull mound with emptied legs.<\/p>\n<p>When peach juices and blackberry<br \/>\nrun down the chin and a dozen<br \/>\nears of corn tassel market sacks<br \/>\nwe see them parked on flagstones<br \/>\nor outgreening the grass,<br \/>\nblack back and eyes, clear wings<br \/>\nwith emerald hems, and the red shoes<\/p>\n<p>of creatures who have longed<br \/>\nto dance, whose feet will never cross<br \/>\nchurch threshold, whose bread of life<br \/>\nis air. In an hour the spread wings<br \/>\nwill shutter the great body,<br \/>\nvibrant vulnerable blue<br \/>\nhardening before the rain.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e15 m14u-1 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-a m14u-b m14u-c m14u-g m14u-h m14u-q m14u-u\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e16 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e17 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Fresh Coffee After You Are Gone<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e18 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Fresh-Coffee-After-You-Are-Gone-copy.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e19 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p>There<span>\u2019<\/span>s studied madness in opening bills after breakfast,<br \/>\nsigning bank transfers. I clear my mind enough to know<\/p>\n<p>a fallen stick of incense won<span>\u2019<\/span>t burn the house,<br \/>\nto figure out the cassette<span>\u2019<\/span>s lack of sound, the rasp<\/p>\n<p>of its rotation, is my error not the answering machine<span>\u2019<\/span>s;<br \/>\nside A not B is the voice, still there, metallic<\/p>\n<p>in the renovated room without its furniture:<br \/>\n<i>I<\/i><span>\u2019<\/span><i>ll be he-e-re<\/i>\u2014the abecedarian of 4 am\u2014<\/p>\n<p><i>I know: Dinner time<\/i><span>\u2019<\/span><i>s the best time. Talk to<br \/>\nyou later<\/i>\u2014the manic laugh, disintegration after<\/p>\n<p>successful surgery inside the frontal lobe.<br \/>\n<i>Pick up. Pick it up! I am healed.<\/i> Oligodendro-<\/p>\n<p>glioma spreads its treeroots in the brain. If I<br \/>\ncould have work to do, take aspirin and move on<\/p>\n<p>instead of staring at the sad museum pieces<br \/>\nthat pondering sculpts from love, as though understanding<\/p>\n<p>were a place to live. If I could simply talk about<br \/>\nthe damp closet upstairs, the milky trail of mildew<\/p>\n<p>on black velvet, the yellowed dry cleaning tags.<br \/>\nIs the number on the scrap of paper 6 or 9?<\/p>\n<p>As though knowing would be alchemy? Square one:<br \/>\nhot bitter brew, then the nothing that has to be done.<\/p>\n<p>For an agitated hour I bundle one towel about<br \/>\nanother in a ball, sort the light fabrics from dark.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e20 m14u-1 m14u-4 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-q m14u-v\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e21 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e22 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Proserpine<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><span class=\"x-image e1470-e23 m14u-24 m14u-26\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/2021-Tab-Journal_1-1024x617-1.jpg?fit=300%2C181&amp;ssl=1\" width=\"150\" height=\"90\" alt=\"Proserpine poem in TAB Journal\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/span><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e24 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Proserpine.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e25 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p>I fell in with a man from a small country.<br \/>\nHe stopped on a rainy lane and asked did I want a ride.<br \/>\nMy mother\u2019d told me always to follow my feet<\/p>\n<p>but the fumes that day overpowered my nose.<br \/>\nHe bit me hard then nubbed at my love pearl.<br \/>\nRed seeds fell from the wound. He says <em>I<\/em> ate them.<\/p>\n<p>He offered me board if I paid for room<br \/>\namong bloodless artistes and ivory heroes<br \/>\nby charging his battery\u2014one or two shocks.<\/p>\n<p>Time passed and faded. There\u2019s a beauty in that.<br \/>\nHe took up his helmet. I saw he was sightless.<br \/>\nI said let\u2019s let it rip. Soot fell about us.<\/p>\n<p>Once I'd signed his note that hell could not be<br \/>\nimproved on, he set me loose for the summer.<br \/>\nHe'd have slipped me into his wallet if I'd fit.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e26 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-3 m14u-q m14u-w\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e27 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e28 m14u-1m m14u-1n m14u-1q m14u-1r\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Poems from <em>Ember Days<\/em><\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e29 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-a m14u-b m14u-c m14u-e m14u-i m14u-q m14u-x\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e30 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e31 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Offering the Body: The Tibetan Practice of Ch\u00f6d<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e32 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-20 m14u-21\"><p>The eagle does its day job<br \/>\nfeasting on what<span>\u2019<\/span>s left by crow and vulture.<br \/>\nAnything I<span>\u2019<\/span>d planned to do is over.<\/p>\n<p>As my head nods its usual consent<br \/>\nto imaginary promises and dreams<br \/>\nmy corpse appears before me.<\/p>\n<p>Time<span>\u2019<\/span>s come to set my mind<br \/>\nto ribbon flesh, chop small, pile it in a dish<br \/>\nmade from the cranial bones.<\/p>\n<p>I scout the stinking ground for anything<br \/>\nto start the fire, use my own desire.<br \/>\nThe skull cup, on its tripod, enlarges as it heats.<\/p>\n<p>Half-moon on a finger<br \/>\npokes from the pile of blood and bones<br \/>\nsimmering to stew, to nectar.<\/p>\n<p>All who are wise, the ordinary, furred,<br \/>\nobstructors, germs of sickness\u2014<br \/>\nmay their bodies, minds, be sated.<\/p>\n<p>From every distance and dimension, beings<br \/>\nafraid, unsatisfied, or blessed, feast to satisfaction\u2014<br \/>\ndevils, angels, animals, everyone I owe.<\/p>\n<p>I see no stopping to the world<br \/>\nbut there is respite from the demons<br \/>\nthat arise daily in the head.<\/p>\n<p>That this ritual could do the same thing twice<br \/>\n\u2014my awareness cuts that thought. O, I cherished<br \/>\nthis poor body. I quake. Invite.<\/p>\n<p>Now, knife the ritual words\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <i>in vast space<br \/>\nreduced to dust\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mounded like clouds<br \/>\nclinging\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 dearly held <\/i>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to let in silence.<\/p>\n<p>For all that is perceived, flesh or consciousness,<br \/>\nappears then disappears, image in a mirror\u2014<br \/>\nred drop, a fingernail, a ball of hair.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e33 m14u-1 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-h m14u-j m14u-k m14u-q m14u-y\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e34 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e35 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Earthly Mishaps<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e36 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Earthly-Mishaps.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e37 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p>Faint, humming, inexorable in the damp<br \/>\nbelow the ruined walled castle garden<br \/>\nMare\u2019s Tail tunnels an eight-foot root.<\/p>\n<p>Sly-boots, I\u2019ve spaded the circle, reached to my elbow.<br \/>\nStill the plant breaks. As Eve brought a man<br \/>\nhis labor, it will multiply tenfold.<\/p>\n<p>I shop for survival: a sprayer to level pride, melancholy<br \/>\nand unwanted shoots. The canister is lowered from<br \/>\nits shelf, bagged in plastic. The till rings.<\/p>\n<p>Keys in hand, I see the carpark as a horsetracked swale<br \/>\nwhere Cadfael leads his roan, saddlebagged<br \/>\nwith an apothecary box. Medieval herbicide?<\/p>\n<p>As he stumps through mud, the monk\u2019s brass scale tips:<br \/>\none pan sways with the bitterness of interrupted life,<br \/>\nthe other, Eve\u2019s radical helplessness.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e38 m14u-1 m14u-4 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-a m14u-b m14u-c m14u-q m14u-z\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e39 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e40 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Ember Days<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e41 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Ember-Days.mp3.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e42 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p>The almanac<span>\u2019<\/span>s laconic whistle<br \/>\npasses a millennium at last grown<br \/>\nnonfungible. Day breaks up the where-were-<\/p>\n<p>you party. Feet wander concrete platforms<br \/>\nlit with radiance weak and discomfited<br \/>\nfrom two bare bulbs, stilled double-naughts.<\/p>\n<p>Mobiles dry-rattle beneath posters for stewpots<br \/>\nand holiday sales, the forecast troubled music:<br \/>\nhistory, or at least cold wind of a startling event.<\/p>\n<p>A cricket<span>\u2019<\/span>s chirrup slows to intermittent pipe.<br \/>\nHooves break the dried railside bramble. Auburn<br \/>\nsummer coats thickened gray, the fawns cluck.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e43 m14u-1 m14u-4 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-k m14u-q m14u-10\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e44 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e45 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Floats To The Sky<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e46 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Floats-To-The-Sky-.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e47 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p>Initially I did not plan<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 a painting of a ladder<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0faithful to phantom<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0noises before sleep<br \/>\nwearing a clean chemise<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 beneath dirty shorts<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 under a worn abaya<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0in my pink slippers<br \/>\nwith my red cheeks in the shop<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 for spots of vitiligo<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and smoothing of their<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 plump ragged history.<br \/>\nThe canvas came bare<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 as a bell before it\u2019s struck<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 by brisk forced air<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0on open waters<\/p>\n<p>or the blue wasp<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0that loved me<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0when I was a child<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 with a sting to the pineal<br \/>\nscattering bars through light<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 all the way to dark<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 faster than brush<br \/>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 leaks down my hand.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e48 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-9 m14u-a m14u-c m14u-e m14u-l m14u-q m14u-11\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e49 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e50 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Kitchen Theater<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e51 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-20 m14u-21\"><p>Make history pleasant; give it a changing<br \/>\nand half-slumped position. Make war<br \/>\nsquat and cushion-like. Make a birthday<br \/>\ncake of the emperor<span>\u2019<\/span>s furniture\u2014if a stick<br \/>\npersists, make warm brown tea. Aethelwold<br \/>\nis drunk again, Cnut buzzing like a fly.<\/p>\n<p>Morning is a busy time. We must forget<br \/>\nvariations on the quake and sweat<br \/>\nin a walk on the long stairway of necessity.<\/p>\n<p>A great crisis occurred, guilty verdicts,<br \/>\nno rescue for the dead. Devoid of human<br \/>\npopulation, seas abound in fish. No such<br \/>\nseas are left. Put the project aside. No one<br \/>\nwill miss you until lunch. History disappeared<br \/>\nin a yellow boat behind the island.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e52 m14u-1x m14u-23\"><p style=\"text-align: right;\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">reprinted in <i>Strange Histories<\/i> by artist Ian Trask, slide collages with writings by friends. You can order this book directly from Ian<span>\u2019<\/span>s website.<br \/>\nThe multimedia <i>Strange Histories<\/i> (2018) contains 3 of my poems.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">One of the rotations in my website<span>\u2019<\/span>s header image is<br \/>\nthe <span>\u2018<\/span>Kitchen Theater<span>\u2019 <\/span>page from this fine art book.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e53 m14u-1 m14u-5 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-e m14u-h m14u-j m14u-k m14u-m m14u-n m14u-q m14u-12\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e54 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e55 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">For When Nothing Is Remembered<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e56 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-20 m14u-21\"><p>On the eighth day we looked on and realized<br \/>\nit wasn<span>\u2019<\/span>t good anymore. Where did they go,<br \/>\nthe shared rituals? We buy greeting cards<br \/>\nthat could be sent to anyone, nineteenth<br \/>\ncentury fixtures shine without a lamplighter<br \/>\nand the city spent millions wiring<br \/>\nthe whatnot.<\/p>\n<p>Coffee in a paper cup, a painted wood duck,<br \/>\nlittle darlings on the back stairs fed<br \/>\nmorning and night\u2013no one born yesterday<br \/>\nwill ever see contraptions that we use to<br \/>\ncommunicate. What of the game under<br \/>\nthe tree root left behind the hill?<br \/>\nStep up.<\/p>\n<p>And leave the affirmations by the wayside.<br \/>\nInveigling all the separate types who<br \/>\nmight begin to dance is no path of light.<br \/>\nYour hygienist can look for other work.<br \/>\nYou might as well slink off to your room<br \/>\nwithout lipstick or a gold dress, seeds<br \/>\nin your hair.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e57 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-3 m14u-q m14u-13\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e58 m14u-1f m14u-1h m14u-1i m14u-1j\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e59 m14u-1m m14u-1n m14u-1r m14u-1s\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Poems from <em>Red Tide At Sandy Bend<\/em><\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e60 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-9 m14u-a m14u-c m14u-e m14u-l m14u-q m14u-14\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e61 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e62 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">From Pillar To Post<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e63 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-20 m14u-21\"><p style=\"text-align: left;\">Stars of autumn daylight coracle the reservoir\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Birds not milling yet to migrate<br \/>\noverhead\u2014<br \/>\nblue\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The soul begins shrugging off cramped quarters<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Water-rooted sycamore<br \/>\ndeep in the gorge<br \/>\nblaze white<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The path leads through hemlocks up the last trail<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Treated lumber<br \/>\nprops the kitchen deck's<br \/>\nunhurried decay<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Before the leaves turn gold air fuses dust and sun<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Ever since I stopped<br \/>\nbelieving I could save it<br \/>\nI have wanted to<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e64 m14u-1 m14u-5 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-e m14u-h m14u-j m14u-k m14u-m m14u-n m14u-q m14u-15\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e65 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e66 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Between Seacurl and Tideline<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e67 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-20 m14u-21\"><p>Pale blue threads of life pulse beneath your fontanelle<br \/>\n\u2014the bay's branching floor a wash of sand aligned with light.<br \/>\nPerfect mother's lips would keep the soft spot fixed.<\/p>\n<p>But I a sister grow along with you<br \/>\nbetween seacurl and tideline<br \/>\nalways six years six months older.<\/p>\n<p>Then the sidewinder\u2014lustral light, sure smoke, white<br \/>\nash\u2014floats your particles<br \/>\non waves forever at my knees, the breaking points.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e68 m14u-1 m14u-3 m14u-5 m14u-7 m14u-h m14u-j m14u-m m14u-o m14u-q m14u-16\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e69 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e70 m14u-1m m14u-1n m14u-1r m14u-1s\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Poems from <em>Within The Shop Of The Divine<\/em><\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e71 m14u-1 m14u-5 m14u-8 m14u-a m14u-c m14u-e m14u-h m14u-j m14u-l m14u-m m14u-n m14u-p m14u-q m14u-17\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e72 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e73 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Beguile-Flatter \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Sapient-Wise<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e74 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-20 m14u-21\"><p>\u2014spitting backward the scallop moves forward\u2014<br \/>\na barnacle anchors the back of its neck<br \/>\nloses most of its head \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0spends life kicking<br \/>\nfood into its mouth\u2014<\/p>\n<p>She drifts off mid-page.<br \/>\nThe horizon is mute carbon paper,<br \/>\nwhat\u2019s left of the night.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Has she stolen the shore?<\/p>\n<p>The sack on her shoulder<br \/>\nholds place-cards from presidents\u2019 luncheons,<br \/>\nbills for books and activities<br \/>\nwith their blank checks, their smiles, her bows,<br \/>\nthe way she can please them.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0How many words a day?<\/p>\n<p>porous as pumice \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0her memory grows<br \/>\nneophyte \u2014- novice \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0pariah \u2014- outcast<br \/>\n\u2014yet tomorrow brings more of that rhythmic beating\u2014<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e75 m14u-1 m14u-5 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-e m14u-h m14u-j m14u-k m14u-m m14u-n m14u-q m14u-18\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e76 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e77 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Guest In The Neighborhood<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e78 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-20 m14u-21\"><p>I was on chicken surveillance that night:<br \/>\nfowl to be roasted whole or split and fried,<br \/>\ndelivered to the busy suburb.<br \/>\nMy mind ran to last week\u2019s manifest destiny<br \/>\nwanting to return to the meadow<br \/>\nthrust into the newly green, sun humming<br \/>\noff the pond. Working the line\u2014a private<br \/>\nlake\u2014would have to fill in that longing.<br \/>\nThen the night shift rooted its wishbone in my chest.<\/p>\n<p>I passed the guard, crawled the sidewalk. But<br \/>\na frenzy of messy barks\u2014the beagle next door\u2014<br \/>\nhad me turn. Each tray of hens was carried from<br \/>\nthe walk-in cooler, each carcass bathed,<br \/>\npatted dry, set on the appropriate counter<br \/>\nwith a little clearing around it.<br \/>\nThat odd feeling of walking in place<br \/>\nclosed my throat, the inexorable remains<br \/>\nof feeding on wages, hungry for wings.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e79 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-3 m14u-q m14u-19\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e80 m14u-1f m14u-1h m14u-1i m14u-1j\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e81 m14u-1m m14u-1n m14u-1r m14u-1s\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\"><em>Uncollected<\/em> Poems<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e82 m14u-1 m14u-2 m14u-a m14u-c m14u-e m14u-l m14u-p m14u-q m14u-1a\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e83 m14u-1f m14u-1j m14u-1k\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e84 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1t\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">With The Multitudes<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-frame x-frame-video-embed e1470-e85 m14u-27 m14u-1v m14u-1w\"><div class=\"x-frame-inner\"><div class=\"x-video x-video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"470\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/plpfp4jB7zg\" title=\"With the Multitudes THM23\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e86 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p>\u201c\u2026The ghosts are chained to joy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Listen! my 8-line poem \u201cWith the Multitudes\u201d at the launch of The Healing Muse 23, Upstate Medical\u2019s annual journal of poetry and photography.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e87 m14u-1 m14u-4 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-k m14u-q m14u-1b\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e88 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e89 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Structural Uncertainty<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e90 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Structural-Uncertainty-1.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e91 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p>You wrote the promissory note a year ago<br \/>\nThat he would not be improved on.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the day could magically be re-opened<br \/>\nTo a place where it would not collapse entirely.<br \/>\nPerhaps your heart could be treated with robustness<br \/>\nAnd lemon drops before you fall asleep.<\/p>\n<p>Not that you want an extension.<br \/>\nIt<span>\u2019<\/span>s time for his flash of light in the night.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\"> <\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<i>Vallum<\/i> 17, 1<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e92 m14u-1 m14u-4 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-l m14u-q m14u-1c\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e93 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e94 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Expect the Ants<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e95 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Expect-the-Ants-121625-2.27-PM.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e96 m14u-1 m14u-5 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-c m14u-d m14u-e m14u-h m14u-j m14u-k m14u-m m14u-n m14u-q m14u-1d\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e97 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e98 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">Household Buddhist<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e99 m14u-1x m14u-1z m14u-20 m14u-21\"><p>Whatever we erect is simplified.<br \/>\nStorms rend structure from mooring, <br \/>\nrender sand from shell.<\/p>\n<p>Sit in a chair. Or on a stack of cushions.<br \/>\nPrune the rambler awhile. Or let it <br \/>\nleaf\u2014eyes level with the railing, or a cloud<\/p>\n<p>of heavy water. In the early days<br \/>\n(days when I was my own ancestor)<br \/>\nmy husband and I would set the alarm.<\/p>\n<p>5:30 sharp we\u2019d drive into town, set <br \/>\ncrossed legs on tatami. The work day <br \/>\nwent by, dinner. Evening zazen with friends.<\/p>\n<p>A silence surrounded with silence. <br \/>\nOccasional cars muttered by. <br \/>\nThe call of a bird before sleep.<\/p>\n<p>Round after round, day after day<br \/>\nanother strand weaves in that nest:<br \/>\nrain-weathered grey now, airy with wind-toss.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Slant: A Journal of Poetry<\/em> 39.2<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-row x-container max width e1470-e100 m14u-1 m14u-4 m14u-5 m14u-6 m14u-7 m14u-8 m14u-9 m14u-a m14u-c m14u-l m14u-q m14u-1e\"><div class=\"x-row-inner\"><div class=\"x-col e1470-e101 m14u-1f m14u-1g m14u-1h\"><div class=\"x-text x-text-headline e1470-e102 m14u-1l m14u-1m m14u-1o m14u-1p\"><div class=\"x-text-content\"><div class=\"x-text-content-text\"><h1 class=\"x-text-content-text-primary\">did your mother ask. . .<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"x-audio x-audio-player e1470-e103 m14u-1u m14u-1v\" data-x-element-mejs=\"\"><audio class=\"x-mejs advanced-controls\" preload=\"metadata\"><source src=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/did-your-mother.mp3\" type=\"audio\/mpeg\"><\/audio><\/div><div class=\"x-text x-content e1470-e104 m14u-1x m14u-1y m14u-1z m14u-20\"><p><strong>did your mother ask who do you think you are?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>a foot tapping new ice, brocade splayed white on rivulet<br \/>\nthe odd wrench in the socket set<br \/>\none of the self-sowers, flower probably blue<br \/>\na soapy fluid rounding off an opalescent sphere<br \/>\nso many apples, sauced<br \/>\nthe dash for clarity<br \/>\nfairy duster? filaree?<br \/>\ngentle vertigo, a door along the floor<br \/>\na frail clang, the steep pilgrimage<br \/>\na page torn unevenly<br \/>\n<em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Notre Dame Review 47<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><b>Author COMMENTARY on <\/b><span>\u2018<\/span><b>did your mother ask <\/b><b><i>who do you think you are<\/i><\/b><b>?<\/b><span>\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I was made into such a good girl that I had no answer for the question at the time.<\/p>\n<p>My poems age 6 to 10 rhymed and metered the small joys of family life as the household accumulated tinder that would later crash and burn around us. I am of the Roman Catholic generation brought up on hellfire punishment for sins we were unaware of and a cardboard box on the teacher<span>\u2019<\/span>s desk with a slot for our pennies for the missions.<\/p>\n<p>In my thirties as a member of a group doing transactional analysis, I learned that phrases my parents commonly shouted at their children in frustration or anger were injunctions that disrupted the natural flow and connection between thought, feeling, action.<\/p>\n<p>My reticent father would blurt <i>You<\/i><span>\u2019<\/span><i>re defiant!<\/i> in a tone mixed of shaming and admiration. His accusation placed me in a position just this side of sinning, a precarious culpability from which no argument was possible. He might well have been mouthing his own father, and a lineage of early onset mental illness and alcoholism.<\/p>\n<p>My mother, with children all day in a household that grew with the regularity of Irish twins, was more inventive and more caustic. During the transactional therapy I kept a notebook that started with the disclaimer, in case I died first, that the contents would not apply to her present person or her beliefs, which in her fifties transformed in more positive ways than any other person I have ever known.<\/p>\n<p>But in my childhood and adolescence, she leveled an array of pithy phrases at her children, sometimes while swinging the belt. (What did I answer to the poem<span>\u2019<\/span>s eponymous question? Was I mute? did I scream back <span>\u2018<\/span>I am myself!<span>\u2019<\/span>? did I dare sarcasm\u2014\u2018oh haven<span>\u2019<\/span>t you heard? I<span>\u2019<\/span>m Mary Gilliland\u2019\u2014which would have or did make everything worse at that moment: <i>None of your back talk!<\/i><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>One consequence of my parents<span>\u2019 <\/span>childrearing methods is a frequent delay in my response, whatever the circumstance; it can take me <span>\u2018<\/span>forever<span>\u2019 <\/span>to think of what to say.<\/p>\n<p>These reflections arise long after the fact of the poem. What was in my mind when I wrote it, despite the sorry circumstances of her utterance, was the gift that my mother<span>\u2019<\/span>s question had become once I felt free to answer truthfully, to know my own mind.<\/p>\n<p>When her spirits were less stressed, my mother<span>\u2019<\/span>s sayings were often cribbed from her German father, such as my being <i>Slower than molasses uphill in winter!<\/i> I am. Taking one<span>\u2019<\/span>s time can reveal much more than the sum of the parts.<\/p>\n<p>I have always loved riddles, particularly those from the Anglo-Saxon. I<span>\u2019<\/span>ve had years of Zen training with modern koans, of Vajrayana visualization and dissolution. I can sift the items in this list poem into 2 categories:<\/p>\n<p>\u2014what have I always loved? just-frozen ice on a stream or a pool; flowering plants; apples, our archetypal fruit; pilgrimage; paper;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014what have I coped with enough to learn to make my own? tools; deadlines; concussions and falling.<\/p>\n<p>Those 2 questions, more than the specific answers, are who I think I am.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">\u2014<i>Notre Dame Review<\/i> posts extras with publication.<br \/>\nI wrote this for <i>NDR<\/i> #47.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Poems from The Devil&#8217;s Fools Lit With Radiance Joy oscillates to sorrow as a dolphin breathes one element to move in another, as a butterfly eats the plant\u2019s green solids when it crawls, the nectar when it\u2019s winged. Sorrow fathoms glory as a tree\u2019s roots curl irregular in shape and thickness, unsteadying the outline of its trunk. Glory rouses joy &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/?page_id=1470\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-blank-4.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1470","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1470"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1821,"href":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1470\/revisions\/1821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}