February 4, 2023

HUNCH  HUNTERS

 

Poets are hunch hunters.

What are you talking about?

Well, poets are trying to get

glimpses into what’s going on.

What are you talking about?

Well, poets listen. They watch.

They spend their time trying to

figure out motives and meanings -

and sometimes put it into words.

Doesn’t everybody do that?

You got it. You got it.

Well then, am I a poet?

You are. Yet you have to

figure that out for yourself.

Sometimes you have to try

to put it into words and images

that nobody seems to understand -

especially yourself. You can do it.

© Reflections, Andy Costello

 February 4, 2023

Quote for Today

"The thing that eats the heart is mostly heart."

Stanley Kunitz

Last line of The Thing that Eats the Heart [1938]

 February 3,  2023

THE MOON A-RISING

 

The moon doesn’t ask. It never does.

She just comes up out of deep black

of the ocean – up into the night sky –

bigger than an 18 wheeler – rolling

down the highway of night. What a

neat blessing to live on the edge of

the Atlantic – and watch this happen

most months. Sometimes it’s cloudy

or rainy and the show is called off

that night – but then the orange moon

nights – make up for the rain outs.

Sometimes I wish you’d get the

message: I wish you’d be like that.

 

© Reflections, Andy Costello

 

 February 3, 2023

Quote for Today

'If the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness."

Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevski [1821-1881]

The Brothers Karamazov  [1879-1880]

 February 2, 2023

GROUND  HOG  DAY

 

Some of the same things

happen to us every day.

We are repeat performances.

We all have our  same shadows -

whether we notice them or not.

We repeat  ourselves.

We deceive ourselves.

We meet ourselves on

the back staircase trying

to avoid what’s happening

on the front staircase.

Humility is being honest

to ourselves about ourselves.

Better: to laugh at ourselves.

Now that’s a key to get.

(c) Reflections, Andy Costello

 February 2, 2023

Quote for Today

"Ten years after your death

I meet on a page of your journal,  as never before,

The shock of your joy."

Ted Hughes [1938-1998]

Visit, [1998]

 February 1,  2023

 

LOST  KEYS

 

Unknown and unmarked keys

hang around much longer than

the keys on our key ring. We

know the keys we use every day.

In the meanwhile, we find these

unknown keys in desk drawers –

on medicine cabinet shelves –

tool boxes and in dishes. We

have no clue what they are for.

In the meanwhile, we lose

our known keys. They are somewhere –

so I guess that’s a key to how life

works – lost and found -

the known and the unknown.

 

© Reflections, Andy Costello