tomatoes walnuts olives

‘Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.’

William Shakespeare, Henry V 

Morning     the sun slices open the blue sky     this wound bleeds until the earth is red     with time comes a measure of healing     a scab forms and then a long scar     these mornings repeat daily across the lifetime of the earth     endless wounds scabs and scars     eternity comes at a price  

James Lee Jobe 

'And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another.'

William Shakespeare, The Comedy Of Errors 

in the mirror there is always this moment

this moment leads to the door of rebirth

the door opens to the sea

the rose of time

-Bei Dao

The fields of the Sacramento Valley 

have joined hands with the oaks and the pines 

to dance in this cold rain 

up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains 

there is now an extra blanket of snow 

the farms below will have water 

all throughout the growing season 

tomatoes walnuts olives  

all will flourish 

a good season is here 

for the farmers 

for the grocers 

and hopefully for the hungry 

even now the rows of tomato plants 

seem like a young army reaching up 

to heaven

-James Lee Jobe

so delicate

a snake also sheds

his earthly robe

-Issa

Winding the old clock 

I ask it about all of the hours 

it has shared with me 

no answer 

just the sound of morning rain

-James Lee Jobe

Marilyn Chin reads a poem, One Child Has Brown Eyes

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Thanks, James