Poems
Original Poetry by Warren GastonComing to Our Senses
“When coming to our senses, what senselessness do we leave behind.” Flavian Forte (1327-1242) The world of sense is nonsense, so the metaphysicians say. Yet when Plato felt a chill in the academy, he did not unroll a scroll. He put on a sweater.
DEEP
Everywhere you look is deep, the stone and flower are deep, as are the rambling ant and the menacing mosquito. On the corner of Elm and Main crossing traffic forces you to wait. You notice hands on a steering wheel of a car passing by another occasion for deep, seams...
In the Beginning
In the first chapter of Genesis, the Bible’s book of beginnings, God did nothing but wait. God lingered. God stayed alert for emergency. (God was curious to see what would emerge.) God noticed the stirrings of urgency, something needed to be released, unconstrainted,...
The Picnic
Friends on a lawn, in a woods, on a sandy seaside beach, in spite of roots, stony ground, irritating ants, itches, and scrap-thieving gulls, blankets are spread and a Rorschach of conviviality plops down, unfurls, expands. Friends, both old and young, each one both...
At Least a Trinity
To be yourself, you must be one. But which one? There are many. To be yourself, one must be two. Or more. Like God.
Righting History
Poets do not let history’s wounds heal too quickly or too soon. Those cavalier with historical facts only reinjure the wound. . Poets use no bandages, no casts or slings, no gels, unguents, or ointments, they pull scabs, scratch irritations, they use salt, not salve,...
Just Saying
Something needs to be said, needs a mouth to say it, needs tongue, needs teeth, needs breath. needs a volunteer volcano needs a woman needs a man for the molten word to rise, flowing rock to shift the shape of long imagined thought.
Complex Multiplicity
So many things are so many things. Is there one thing that is just one thing? If so, name such a singularity.
The Life of Presence
"To live in the present moment is a miracle." Thich Nhat Hanh In the life of presence, there is no hurry, slow is fine, fast unfashionable. Speed will not buy time, neither will efficient tools nor labor saving devices. Time is no longer of the essence. No insistent...