My Collected Poetry and Prose

Poetry

  • Follow the Cat

    I lost my way sometime back before the head banging and teeth gnashing I forgot that a poem like a cat ...

  • And Then It Rained

    Clouds laced with anger and bits of RNA light green on dark gray on khaki  with red splatterings ...

  • Morning Gift

    A gift each morning before the noise begins if the door isn’t too heavy a stroll around the neighborhood ...

  • Turning Back

    I don’t want to continue to be  what I have lately become not any longer I’ve had enough I want ...

  • Don’t Do It

    Fear is a subtle unease communicable from friends and family it infects you early makes you cautious ...

  • I Am An Old Man

    I sense you now and thenelusive and ephemeralI am unsurebut my limited mind tells me you must really ...

  • Mother

    Why don’t you careI thought we were specialWhy are you like thatWhy don’t you helpWe are dyingFalling ...

  • We Shall See

    We shall see nowif we can withstand this storm if we are as strong and supple as we tell ourselvesor ...

  • Missing the Bus

    You probably shouldn’t tell your boss you missed your bus yesterday morning because you stopped to ...

  • Notes on Aging

    Ignoring the darkness  is getting harderI can feel it creeping  round the edgesI fight itbut I know ...

  • I Think I Felt A Breeze Today

    Something changed this morningit has been six months or moresince I felt that tickle on the back of ...

  • Shadow or Substance

    Shadow or substance I can be either if I have to but mostly I like shadow I prefer it to substance substance ...

  • Too Much Junk

    In the back of my mind I know I have too much stuff junk actually but I don’t like to think about ...

  • Agnostic

    I am agnostic I admit it at least when it is daylight and my mind is clear from last night’s meanderings ...

  • Fist Bump

    A fist bump that’s what I remember just a bump knuckle to knuckle We had walked out of the room chatting ...

  • The Children Are Coming

    We have to hold now we can allow no more slippage cede no more ground so hold tight get ready the children ...

  • Pick It Up!

    Pick it up God Damn it! Look around you This is a beautiful world What the hell is wrong with you? Marv ...

  • Night Lines

    The daylight is fading now the lines and boxes that keep my mind contained are softening melting like ...

  • The Lighthouse at Cattle Pass

    From my vantage point on this rocky spit this miniature headland I watch it is my duty to watch and ...

  • The Wonder

    I forgot to wonder yesterday so today the noise is louder I don’t have the buffer from lingering imaginings ...

  • Feed The Queen

    There was a time when we were a great city I remember but now we teeter on the brink of sliding into ...

  • The Player

    The theater is empty floors swept clean curtains closed it is resting only ghosts are active reliving ...

  • Autumn Apparition

    A sudden vortex whirling leaves a force field I can see through but cannot grasp through not tightly ...

  • On Finishing My Fence

    Do you want to see my fence I built it over Christmas It turned into quite a project Come Walk with ...

  • Getting Dressed

    Sorting through my armament trying to find the right combinations that are appropriate for today and ...

  • At The Kitchen Table

    Mugs of hot coffee signaled time-out from our troubles from the events of the day from problems at work ...

  • Moirae’s Lament

    She comes when she is ready not straight on where I can see her but obliquely from the shadows or from ...

  • The Hunter’s Challenge

    Wear your camo paint your face sound your rutting calls but leave your war weapons home two bullets ...

  • Concessions

    Concessions are coming more frequently now I guess I knew they eventually would but it always seems ...

  • The Emigrant

    Pack carefully there is no coming back whisper tender goodbyes give hugs all ‘round Remember these ...

  • Where Ghosts Go To Die

    I stumbled on it one afternoon high in an autumn desert a quiet valley a trickling stream an abandoned ...

  • My Muse Lives There

    Beneath the mountain behind the clouds somewhere out there that’s where she lives she certainly doesn’t ...

  • Tick Tock

    I had a minor epiphany a moment ago thinking about time and how it passes no matter what I am doing ...

  • The Switch

    At some point when the store of enthusiasm runs low when life becomes repetitive even dreary and sometimes ...

  • While They Dawdle

    The mountain has changed againhave you noticeda little roundera little lower on the horizona little ...

  • Are You Listening?

    I don’t etch stone tablets or scratch parchment rolls I don’t couch advice in obscure parables or ...

  • Questions For A Red-Tailed Hawk

    When you divefor the young rabbitin the field belowdo you feel regretare you overcomewith the mysteries ...

  • Transience

    We are not of God stuff of space and quarks of dark energy and timelessness those are forever things ...

  • Do Not Tell Me Ever

    If you discover why we laugh or the chemistry of love if you dismantle beauty or find the DNA of joy ...

  • American Flyer

    I remember sneaking down to the railroad in the afternoons when Mom wasn’t looking to lay copper coins ...

  • About My Prostate

    Your PSA is too high6.8 and climbingNeed to check it outIt’s been two years Drop your trousersDrop ...

  • Morning Foghttp://marvhimmel.com/2017/03/morning-fog/

    The thing about fog in the morning before the sun rises and burns away choices before daylight locks ...

  • The Last Forest

    Lonely, lonely, lonely deep in the forest the Green Man weeps plotting his revenge. Marv Himmel March ...

  • Looking Back

    Though comforting it can be deceiving recalling the good old days those cherry-picked collages of reminiscence ...

  • Catharsis

    Sitting in the shadows by the winter stove it occurs to me that I have been building this hiding place, ...

  • Coming Your Way

    Coming your way gonna change your plans gonna change your life a speck now out of sight but coming closer ...

  • The Fragility of Wildflowers

    Over there where the flowers push up through the rubble do you know their story how they used to dance ...

  • 7,341 Acts of Kindness or Thereabouts

    Cruelty is heavy made of bits of anger sharp and dark and sullen sometimes loud it craves an audience ...

  • Where Can Jimmy Be?

    I can’t believe that each time I pass by I stop and stare at this plot of dark ground under the Buckeye ...

  • She Was The Reason I’d Sing

    I wrote this before Christmas but couldn't bring myself to share it. It reflects the sadness I felt ...

  • What I’d Like for Christmas, 2016

    I’d like the wind to pass me by today blow round me and leave me in a bubble where it is peaceful ...

  • Holiday Ditty

    Thanksgiving’s done and guests all gone There’s hoary frost around the pond With fire lit and burning ...

  • Summation

    Pond rimmed with ice Fog low over the water Early morning in the park It’s Christmas An old man on ...

  • Do You Remember Me

    Here in the mists we linger hundreds of us thousands even millions can you see us At Actium I marched ...

  • Quiet Places

    Lately I have noticed more of the quiet places usually rural and rugged and wild not for the adventure ...

  • Something For The Boys To Do

    No need to hunt or walk the fields behind a plow no need to stand watch or guard the castle walls no ...

  • We Never Thought

    We never thought it would happen that it would go this far but we were wrong We never thought... but ...

  • When You Look Away

    You’re not the same she said you don’t need me like you did back before, you know before you left ...

  • Connection

    Pick something a willow perhaps swaying in a wind that flows from a nearby sea stirred by warming waters ...

  • Caprice

    I don’t know why one day a book seems ordinary and badly written nearly unreadable and yet two days ...

  • Wink

    Keep a few secrets just for yourself something you know or saw or did something you’ll never tell ...

  • Circles

    It is time now it has been years but tonight she is coming and it makes me smile Midnight moonlight ...

  • Rag Bag

    A thread snaps slowly unraveling until it is pulled or snipped or breaks off and falls to the floor ...

  • The Natural Light of Morning

    “You’ll ruin your eyes” Mom used to say “You need more light” “Turn on the lamp” But I ...

  • Late Night Last Night

    I am sleepy today last night in the middle of the night after a long day of pondering the inherent goodness ...

  • My Little Black Hole

    I’m gonna dig a hole out in the back yard my own little black hole that’ll suck in all the stuff ...

  • The Old Poet — A Tribute to Verne Laswell, Principal, Poet, Teacher

    Mr. Verne Laswell, long passed now, Was my grade school principal. I always thought he was a little ...

  • To The Couple Down The Way

    Maybe I am old fashioned or out of touch or just grumpy today but I don’t want to see it I don’t ...

  • The Conundrum of Heaven

    Not here you say uh uh not in my house not in my town not here nope But you know it is not true every ...

  • Can You Hear It?

    Can you hear it? Of course you can’t It is the hush It is the quiet It is the silence of the absence ...

  • Normal

    Body tired leaning against my truck after a workout feet planted to the ground face tilted to the warming ...

  • Morning Rituals

    Fill the pot turn the burner to high set-up the cone and filter five scoops, slightly rounded just right ...

  • What I Meant

    That isn’t what I meant but if you see it there then that’s what it is but I didn’t put it there ...

  • To Write A Poem

    As for me (I cannot speak for others) to write a poem is to seek to describe with words that which I ...

  • Hard Choices

    Hard choices giving up my baubles my toys my collections Hard choices learning to walk or bike or ride ...

  • An Hourglass Half Dark

    It has a place on the shelf among the books and photos a gift from long ago powerful magical Its shape ...

  • The Perfect Spin

    Go ahead give it a twist enjoy the symmetry the beauty the balance this pirouette on the head of a pin ...

  • Death and Sundays

    Nearby always nearby a wall a curtain a door down the block across the street I don’t know no one ...

  • Swimming In An Alpine Lake In Late Summer

    A day’s hike through intermittent sun and forested shade of the western slope up towards the snow ...

  • I Remember: Notes From a Father

    I remember I remember all of it just because I don’t talk about it don’t think I have forgotten ...

  • An Infrequent Sailor

    Some days the constant chatter and hum takes its toll after a while, I don’t notice it anymore or ...

  • Dark Tea

    I had an inkling when I came home from Viet Nam that we were not so different that here, just as there ...

  • Interesting Times

    Look a darkness on the horizon perhaps a storm coming our way can you see it It doesn’t take much ...

  • Hey, Little Bug

    Hey, little bug in the middle of the path antennae twitching verdict pending and me, frozen mid-stride ...

  • A Late Winter’s Rumination

    I may not sail the southern sea after all nor tread round ancient Troy as once I dreamed diminishing ...

  • Impasse

    Sometimes he writes from darkness cynical that what has been will simply repeat spinning endlessly round ...

  • Whispers of Waldo Lake

    Some memories have timid souls and need to be protected so they hide high in the mountains beneath the ...

  • Just One Cup

    One small cup of epiphanies, please to take from the morning table and meter out on endless days little ...

  • Bench Sittin’ At Friday Harbor

    A rocky knoll overlooking the harbor couple of old dudes sitting on a bench in the afternoon shade watching ...

  • Flaws — Reflections On Having Built a Shed

    I wanted to create something from the ground up this time no kit no blueprint just pencils, straight ...

  • Old Paths

    Old pathways intrigue me meandering in no great hurry no longer of perfect width or depth or direction ...

  • Comfort

    A little comfort now and then not so much to ask after a stressful day or a hard time like a cold beer ...

  • Infestation

    They arrived this spring likely from a nearby tree just a few hardly noticeable no great concern natural ...

  • The Dealers

    Who are these dealers ordering the deaths of children then shrugging their shoulders over evening cocktails ...

  • Jump

    Cocky confident convinced of my mastery and proud life is good A wobble a shift the center moves a niggling ...

  • A Splotch of Red

    A splotch of red bobbing in the distance too far to discern clearly a funky hat or painted hair I presume ...

  • On The Corner: Part 2

    Memo To:     All Prophets, Leaders and Visionaries From:     God Make a sign. Stand on a corner. ...

  • On The Corner

    Same corner same dog same sign “Hungry” “Anything helps” “God Bless” He makes good money ...

  • Memory Walls

    Road trip across state lines back in time to a city to a house to a home hoping to refresh aging memories ...

  • Good Neighbors

    I like my neighbors mostly Don’t know where they go to church or if they go to church Don’t care ...

  • Obsession

    Crawling creeping flicking at the edge of awareness a thirst comes late in the afternoon I shouldn’t ...

  • Memories of Air

    Latch-broken hood blowing across my windshield at sixty mph on a Wyoming morning drive Electric ozone-infused ...

  • In The Bubble

    Reluctantly accepting the indifference of the universe its cold, dark, inscrutable beauty I turn instead ...

  • Do It Over

    She handed back the paper where boldly etched in red her letters scorched into it “Do it over, Marv.” ...

  • Convulsion

    Convulsion in the air tonight tremors in the hills rising tide engulfing time to pay the bills Serpent ...

  • Generational

    Setting off for the mountain innocence unbound the early morning air an energizing cloak for our journey ...

  • Scale

    In the late twilight on a ridge overlooking the great river just before it is swallowed by the gorge ...

  • A Minor Symmetry

    Last winter I found a pair of gloves in the parking lot work gloves I liked them no one there to claim ...

  • There Should Be Music

    I see the treetops sway overhead lying here in the afternoon sun I never noticed before how much their ...

  • Grumpy

    I had a perfectly good grump going the other day my back hurt neck stiff slept badly Getting old sucks ...

  • On Remembering August

    Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, ...

  • I Am Fire

    Who am I you ask? I am fire. I am fire. I am fire. Since your earliest morning I have warmed your caves, ...

  • Me n’ Jeanie

    A time when coffee in the beard and late for lunch is no way to begin and burned hot dogs in the rain ...

  • Flavor Of the Month

    Coming in from having been out in the cold too long My clumsy fingers tremble in expectation I can feel ...

  • Tumbledown

    A raindrop falls on a denuded mountainside becoming a landslide crushing the village below A boy soaps ...

  • Grandpa’s Pocket Watch

    Its burnished now to a bright soft sheenfrom years of wear on a denim jean.Grandpa’s railroad working ...

  • If It Had Rained

    If it had rained that day they would have met under the awning in front of Weddell’s Antique Store ...

  • Adrift

    A star sprinkled twilight evening standing on the edge of Portneuf Plateau looking over the fading confluence ...

  • Look At Me

    Look-at-me clothes and look-at-me hair artsy tattoos and body piercings I am here I am real look at ...

  • Gardeners and Sailors

    Playing negotiating compromising with nature Pulling a weed moving an old rose giving in to clover filled ...

  • The Hubris of Cities

    Right angles and parallel lines grey flat sidewalks and numbing orderliness they presume to draw you ...

  • Encounter on a Winter Morning Walk

    A sparsely inhabited world this winter morning for me to fill with imaginings and wonder where I will... ...

  • The Hourglass

    a summer’s day unending school year much too long someday takes forever wait til you’re a man grade ...

  • Sniper Stew

    A butterfly lights on the sniper’s sight and waits for him to explain Going out an exuberant boy in ...

  • Small Epiphanies

    Big epiphanies strike fast and change your life like when you suddenly realize there is a God or not ...

  • Secrets

    In a springtime garden of anticipation new lovers gaze deeply into one another’s eyes seeking answers ...

  • Second Thoughts

    I remember the night I first saw you Freshly crowned Queen of the Prom White-gowned and tall Strong ...

  • Sanctuary

    The morning fog is thick todayI don’t feel like walking up the hillBut I know I shouldI force myself into ...

  • On Selecting The Perfect Orange

    She is vibrant in her public dress. Smooth and glowing an artistic touch of makeup here and there to ...

  • Old Friends — A Prairie Pastoral

    One sunny spring morning on a grassy slope near a meandering prairie stream a tentative green bud pushed ...

  • Memorial Service

    He wasn’t very good at solemn services He tended to drift off into his own thoughts and forget when ...

  • Like A River

    Tumbling fresh meltwater rivulets embrace above the timberline. Giggling and sighing they cavort in ...

  • Lamentations Redux

    Gnarled and bitter necks permanently twisted from peering over their shoulders seeing only the past ...

  • Weeds

    Every night every winter they come over the fence around the gate on the wind illegal immigrants seeking ...

  • Breathe In

    Breathe in Breathe out Ohmmmmmmmmmm... Struggling to write Need to quiet the noise Ratchet it down Focus ...

  • A Day At the Beach

    At first the brash symphony of roaring surf and squawking gulls of salt water and stinging sand overpowered ...

  • Cleaning the House After Mom Died

    No longer home just a house empty waiting sold to the highest bidder ready for new spirits to chase ...

  • My Wild Place

    Surrounded by intention an island of chaos in a landscape of manicured lines and measured steps A sanctuary ...

  • Beauty

    The light is full of chores to do and bills enough to pay it fills our time with common things that ...

  • My Hungry Friend

    My friend My enemy My hungry white page I throw my words to you My usual supply of trite, ordinary words ...

  • Short Story

  • The Fire Within: The Fire Without

    I don’t know when it first began, this power that an open fire has over me, but it came fully into ...

  • The Unwinding

    He huddled closer to the small fire and gathered the corners of the tattered down sleeping bag more ...

  • The Gift

    l was just a teenager that summer when I was summoned to grandfather’s bedside. He was dying of cancer. ...

  • A Pretty Good Neighborhood

    I’m on my way home from a long, hot, boring day at work. I turn off the main drag onto my quiet little ...

  • Walking With Lucy

    I am writing this now so that when the day comes when my light dims, my memories begin to fade, I can ...

  • Reclamation

    The black and grey macadam scar, yellow-lined on the sides and white dashed down the middle, winds its ...

  • Thanksgiving Primer

    As usual, by the end of the meal we were all painfully uncomfortable. It had been a traditional Thanksgiving ...

  • An Evening With Michele O.

    He took one last deep breath trying valiantly to make himself taller, more manly. This was the moment ...

  • Uncategorized

  • Pawn to King Four

    Don’t rush Take your time Collaborate Analyze the options Consider the next move… If this, then ...

  • I Know Your Name

    I know you are following me always have been  slowly gaining   year on year getting closer but I ...

  • Hunting Season

    Rifle cleaned and newly sighted hot coffee in the thermos autumn leaves crackling underfoot a four-point ...

  • Little Men

    He shot the man in the mirror ‘cause he wore his gun all wrong... Little men come in all sizes often ...

  • Ephemera

    Yesterday’s mower tracks wet with morning dew show in the grass through clinging fog they hint of ...

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