Richard Jones, Professor of English at DePaul University and editor of the literary journal POETRY EAST is in town this weekend presenting a poetry workshop with Jack Grapes, award-winning poet, actor, playwright (Circle of Will), teacher and editor and publisher of ON THE BUS literary journal. I will be there, grateful to be present with these two literary giants.
The Bell
Richard Jones
In the tower the bell
is alone, like a man
in his room,
thinking and thinking.
The bell is made of iron.
It takes the weight
of a man
to make the bell move.
Far below, the bell feels
hands on a rope.
It considers this.
It turns its head.
Miles away,
a man in his room
hears the clear sound,
and lifts his head to listen.
Nothing Left To Chance
Jack Grapes
Begin with fish,
smack their heads off with a mallet
or tear through the entire phone book
sheet by sheet
and digest the lives listed
five hundred to a page.
You don't remember one old phone number
but all the addresses
for each home you've lived in
bob like little boats
on the ocean of your daydreams.
You can't understand why poets
write lines like that,
or what makes a car go,
and when you see those steel girders
going up on the vacant lot
the exposed elevator shafts,
glass and concrete not far behind
you wonder how so much can be built
one piece at a time
and nothing left to chance.
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