I have glimmers and flashes— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
of what the masters have
brief windows of grace
foundations glimpsed
my thoughts are full
of the desire to act
but I cannot
for if I cannot hold
their vision now
how could I amid acting
I want it solid and sure
I want to cut to the heart
so I must act from the heart
and the heart,
the heart is not yet full.
gallagher
19 jun 84
Archive for 1984
1984-06-19
Tuesday, June 19th, 19841984-06-24 For the pictures
Sunday, June 24th, 1984
For the pictures
In the gray half light I saw the picture patterns she'd hung;
imperishable for this moment, and so fragile for all the rest.
Someday, I may remember these, that tonight I can see.
Somewhere, down the imponderable paths our lives wind,
I could be dropped into another world - far from this
and Rose's pictures and Danny's manhood and Chris' cheeks
may all be photographs and memories then ...
indeed...we all will be, someday.
So this moment ... I cannot stop it, cannot delay it
and I cannot waste it, least I regret.
So easy to lose it against hungers or moods or fatigue.
The kindness and love we give and receive...
it seems so mixed with the mundane and the trivial sometimes.
But all the lessons of our lives wait before us;
lessons from which no one escapes alive.
What more could God give us than the people we love
and the passion of living out our lives with them
in family/friend chains of living change?
gallagher
24 jun 84
— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
1984-06-24 poets
Sunday, June 24th, 1984poets— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —
I don’t understand the poets who dig for their hearts
twisting in the coils of their own undoing
or, perhaps I do, for I’ve been there
but pain for the sake of rendering it
as proof of having lived it…
You will live and die posed and postured or not
Go stand on tables and rant
thumb your nose at convention
and go for what can be felt
with your utter resolve
moths against the flame
No one said courage and understanding sleep together
Go ON! dig for you heart…tear it out and stamp it
stamp it until its dead
but there will still be poverty and children and love
and people will still live and die outside
with their simple heroisms unsung and unseen….
gallagher
24 jun 84