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 ...