Once every day at least, I use my landline to locate my misplaced cell phone. I wish I knew the number for my misplaced wisdom.
Poems on YouTube
I have begun to add readings of poems to my YouTube channel (sidewaysstation). For the time being there are five, but I'll be adding more over time.
Two moods of darkness
Listen to the poem here Two moods of darkness Darkness has its swings of mood. It also has long arms and countless fingers. Those nights your worries start to make the floorboards creak; first one, then several, then all (and if you have no floorboards they bring their own) then darkness slowly tries to... Continue Reading →
The World is Big
Listen to the poem here The world is big but I would like it bigger still, more different not less. Maps show that there’s still room for one large island or small continent. Within, let us suppose, a people with another calendar, new names for stars, and constellations patterned on the shapes of animals and... Continue Reading →
Walking near the Roman Forum
Listen to the poem here Below, next to our feet, the present just about to turn into the past. The plastic bottles, and the beer cans from last night. The cigarette butts impacted in between the cobble stones And next to them the newly sprouted seedlings thrusting upwards like minute berserkers insanely charging our enormous... Continue Reading →
The winter starlings
© Photo Copyright Walter Baxter Listen to the poem here In early winter every year the starlings in their hundred thousands come to Rome. They populate the branches of the trees from where their shit rains down in abundance and unceasingly. Umbrellas must be opened as you rush across the road, weathering their excremental storm. They... Continue Reading →
The S’s of Mexico
Listen to the poem here On my last day in Mexico, Mexico City bade farewell to me before I had had time to pack my bags. I looked for water late at night and every road performed a drum-roll down each side— shop-shutters closing, clanging, just for me— Goodbye, good luck and most of all... Continue Reading →
Airport security in 2041
(Listen to the poem here) The bottle collectors, the metal detectors, the boarding pass checks, the ID inspection. Past the scanners, the guards, through the frisker-bush hedges The trackers, the scopers, the seven-armed gropers. Then the dumbstunner pistols which make all your electronics electroffics for the duration of your flight. The tattoo inferencer, the Rorschach... Continue Reading →
More often not
(Listen to the poem here)  The day comes every day. It brightly knocks upon your door Sometimes you answer and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you leave a message to say that you’re not in for life right now. The night comes every night. It sits upon the ground and everywhere it plays its silent... Continue Reading →
The Indian boy outside the temple
(Listen to the poem here) Swaying in his walking mother’s arms The two-year old is studiously Extracting strands of moonlight From her long and precious hair. Phillip Hill 2017