i am not sure when
poets lost their place
as the unacknowledged
legislators of the world
but it is unfortunate
poets were once the writers of
the zeitgeist composers of
the collective unconscious
but no more
words have been exchanged for imagery
philosophy for dogma
poets have always read
the philosophers
though i doubt
the philosophers to their cost
have as often read the poets
priests or more likely preachers
lie somewhere between
dallying in a bit of both
they along with the politicians
seem to occupy the pulpit
once held by poets
the sad part is that
politicians don't read
any of it
if they read at all
and while poetry may indeed
make nothing happen
while it cannot write
another world while
it cannot translate dreams
into the real
language is the currency
of consciousness
it is what constitutes real
and so our only hope
is that poets continue
to dream and write
those dreams

we don’t need
trees and snow
angels
or even lakes or mountains
to see into the life of things
i’ve stood on the edge
of the grand canyon
in spring
breathless speechless
ridden through the alps
in summer
with yellow blooms
and waterfalls
driven through the rockies
in winter
mesmerized by snow
against a clear sunny sky
and i’ve seen
my four-year-old son
swinging
in the back yard
reaching to go high
enough to see over the bar
then returning
head tilted back
full of delight
laughing