Author Archives: Benjamin White

One wakeful midnight, I went where my mindWould go, and found myself a ways down waysOf Would-Have-Beens, in woods where many kindsOf rancors live — red hot regret, despairAmong them most for me. But that night cameA coolness (maybe from the mountain airI welcomed through my open window frame,Or maybe the cicadas singing there)That placedContinueContinue reading “On Ways of Would-Have-Beens”

He Could Have Each time I’ve gone for a hike in the cloudsI’ve made my own way through rich loamy white.Once my boot sank deep and cried I aloud,”Don’t rain me down! I would die from this height!”To my surprise a cloud voice then replied,”You have no wings, no wand here to waft you,How cameContinueContinue reading “He Could Have”

On Missing the Perseid Meteor Shower  I didn’t have it in me; not this year. Instead, I dozed in dreamless sleep. Lights on, Heartsong silenced, dreamscapes dashed by TV Sounds, flickers, surfeit of nothingness squared.  Meanwhile, high above me, Earth’s atmosphere Was sparking falling stars. Now night’s gone, And morning dreams of what I failed to see Are only flicked off matches whenContinueContinue reading “On Missing the Perseid Meteor Shower”

Counting Birds On My Front Porch  That’s two hundred swallows, it must be, (200) Nine mallards chasing their lust free, (9) Four sparrows in street dirt get dusty, (4) And across the lake in the brush, I can just see One heron so stark-still he trusts me. (1)  Six geese gliding doubled in lake green, (6) Two mourning dove songsContinueContinue reading “Counting Birds On My Front Porch “

Nephelococcygia From νεφέλη (nephélē, “cloud”) +‎ κόκκῡξ (kókkūx, “cuckoo”) +‎ -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā). 1. cloud-cuckoo-land, a utopia, imaginary place with unrealistic or silly people.  Dragons and dolphins mostly; Draping my waking eyes in dreams, Whilst stare I high above to see Forever in the shapes that more than seem. They grow me toward whom I’m meant to be, This they must and do achieve. A singing bird in flight, A wolf’s head, hippo, cartoon ear, AllContinueContinue reading “Nephelococcygia “

for Gerard Manley Hopkins and the kingfishers he saw catch fire Oak, Elm and Cedar, Pitch Pine, Walnut, Spruce. Your names, dear friends, must speak and spell this place, And yet my habits baffle in disuse Of lips and lungs to lovingly embrace The shapes of Birch and Beach — of Tulip Tree — Unmaking ground beneath my feet, beneath WhichContinueContinue reading “On Forgetting the Names of Trees “

When was the first time you saw the long shadOws? Can you bring to light the light that stretchedYour darkness out behind you like a sadNess? Or before you like the joy of sketchedTomorrows? Or both at once as it oftEn is? Remember the white gravel walkFrom back behind the barn where grass so softLyContinueContinue reading “The Long Shadows”

If you know me, you know I love George MacDonald. I write down quotes as I read through his works. I haven’t read them all yet, but I’m getting closer! This quote felt like it was close to a found poem all by itself, but it evolved into a sonnet below. “Does he not demandContinueContinue reading “What I Know: A sonnet with the Marquis of Lossie”

A concave darkness, deep in eyes of stoneSees true and false in one uneasy breath;A bust and not the rest, no flesh and bone.The heartless head of one who dealt out deathIs, unsurprisingly, colorless, naught.His eyes are hollowed out by sculptor’s skill,The iris is a void, the pupil wroughtBy tender scraping, scratching, smoothing ‘tilTwo delicateContinueContinue reading “Bust of Pilate”

Thinking about feet and Matthew 7:24-27 on Maundy ThursdayWalking on the BeachDesiccation ready here,Crumbling sand crunches,Despite the wet sea breeze. Lumpy waves of wind-made moundsTo plod throughAs I seek the ocean’s prize;Not quite dunesBut dune-likeOn a smaller scale. Here, Near my home,The Jersey ShoreIs streaked with darker sand,Stirred throughWith bits of shells;This is a placeContinueContinue reading “Walking on the Beach”

More than a score of years ago I learnedBig Dipper spills her cup into the North,Merak and Dubhe have forever burnedAn arrow aimed at North Star’s clear “Go forth!”It seemed like magic to know the way,No matter where I wandered, she was found,A trust in heaven that could keep at bayThe doubts of lefts andContinueContinue reading “Reorientation”

after Deuteronomy 4:9Take care to watch yourself closely so as Not to forget the things your eyes have seen, Your ears have heard, the things your heart’s heart has Received and interwoven in your being. You must remember daily, or you run The risk of losing more than what you’ve known. Unknowing runs to eyes and ears undone; And hearts will shineContinueContinue reading “Deuteronomic: A Christian Poet’s Manifesto”

Delicate hairsof my ear lobesQuiver gladlywith bulb whispersBreaking blindlyfrom beneath the ground. EyelidsClosing ‘roundMourning dove’s minor thirdbring blood’s brightness to the harmonious humof all eyes see. KneecapsShivering with water’sRipple trill, thoseDazzled bonesEmbraced and embracingWhat peaks must tell. SternumSyncing with eachBore hole beat;the flickers are makingTheir signatureand singing this feast. Rough skinof my elbowsShushing sotto voceBelowContinueContinue reading “Acoustic Body”

in Lancaster County, PA These birds woke up as rain lay down to sleepTo scatter dreams upon this false-spring field;February alive from somewhere deep, Reviving early with a hope to yieldThe harvest sooner than it has before.A warm wind seeping from beyond my prayersTo fill the feathers for these birds to soarFrom stubble into windbreakContinueContinue reading “False Spring Birds”