Stephen Jones - Poetry & Photographs

"Pond" - September 2011

2012-01-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Liveliness In Words

2011-06-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

Liveliness in words
Is not a god's fraction

Word's learned by time
Are pleasant company

Argue the implausible
And make it fiction

Continue the argument
And make it fact

Bukowski Blues

2011-05-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

Smoke fills the mind like
a below-the-pavement dive
down a flight of sagging iron stairs
old sunlight only coming in
when the door opens

Yellow-and-green denizens
Hopper's last stop here
mumbling in booths of darkness
& at the long bar burning cigarette
to cigarette bodies blurred
smeared blended
like cheap booze poured
but never spilled

Baseball . . . Soon

2011-03-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Sure 'nuff baseball starts
fan world balanced on
a new season
by game beer brats

But the season-to-be
first pumped by fist
applause dismays
maybe applause again is

The moments the pitches
the at-bats & skewed recoveries
the brilliant plays or errors by inches
or a bunt called fair

Anticipate whatever
moments of small history
a baseball song
a long time April-October

Time & Rain

2011-03-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

Time & rain wait for no one

(nor does this pun
or life-long love spun
on white dove wings
lifted to open sky)

but to remind
sometimes heart hand
& moment are destined

Christmas 2010

2010-12-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

I was not aware of Christmas
Or of its bells & dreams
But an attack of snow just now

Wakened me
I labor intensive against drifts
Against waves of white

With a whale of a story
Shoaling cars trees homes
But do not call me Ahab

Call me Claus . . . Santa Claus
Shaken like a snow globe
Stirred like a frothy punch

I hunt happiness
Through snowballs ice & snowflakes
A steaming pod of dreams pluming

North South East West
Thar she blows!
I am Kringle . . . Kris Kringle

Leaf History

2010-11-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

I no longer care who I am
Nor express my veins

Or what I was
I no longer aspirate

Quick wind will make a change
I hang about & wait

Fall

2010-10-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

I have no view
The rain the wind the silver sightings

Express dreams express showers
Strong winds to come to obscure

A leaf the edges of me
Toss bending with every gust

To Those Who Think The Yankees Are Overpaid

2010-09-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

Counting: 15 out of 16 years past
to Yankee playoff possibility:

Pirates? Padres? And The Indians, e.g.?
(the list of small- & medium-market
teams & venues is as long as owners' ledgers
& a dis-service to fans)

So don't argue:

That your team owners may be committed
to money to profit not to bases counted
or games won: to profit sharing
& so much for quality & parity

Some teams are designed to contend
others merely to make money

Summer Sunset - New York City, July 2010 [#1]

2010-08-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Summer Sunset - New York City, July 2010 [#2]

2010-08-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

Summer Sunset - New York City, July 2010 [#3]

2010-08-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

Sunset/Reflection

2010-06-20T23:54:00.000-07:00

The sun strong

Setting orange-hot variable
is a shaft-of-hand offered
laid down with imperative

To step onto sea-pocked
electrum memory to go
to where the sun argues . . .

The Intrepid, West Side Drive, New York City - June 8, 2010

2010-06-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

West Side Drive Looking South, New York City - June 8, 2010

2010-06-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Gino

2010-06-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

Excessive but alive
Even when gambling

With cards time future
Gino knew

The wax gates & run off
Of bronze & little things
Otherwise forgotten

Then suddenly furious
He'd sweep an oak table clean
Declaring "This is shit!"

Brushing all off away &
After lunch his observations
Explosive amid plaster molds

With plastic cup with white wine
With gravelly remarks

He sometimes exaggerated
Sometimes jeweled

But always with pride & patina
His work & word cast finished

A Tough Place To Be

2010-05-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

A tough place to be

Is the pitcher's mound
10 inches higher than home plate
wheel work hub
of an elongated arch of bases

A tough place to be

When fans cameras & commentators
descend centered on a dome of earth
on an arm & delivery
to a hub/to home plate

A tough place to be

When all works or doesn't
head & heart mind & body
focused this moment
a pitcher on the mound is

A tough place to be

This Season

2010-05-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

This new season fans fresh
Cards & fantasy leagues lush
Etched stroked boasted

In any hemisphere any ballpark
Any afternoon or evening dark

Of baseball thinking & reacting
The art of pitching
Or sudden art of bat

In any hemisphere any ballpark
Any afternoon or evening dark

Arguments mouthed at a bar
a workplace or home are
part'n'parcel of baseball

In any hemisphere any ballpark
Any afternoon or evening dark

Is baseball feted
Appetite whetted

Chappaqua Tree Stand

2010-03-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

At a MetroNorth stop
cocoons monolithic
backlit by western sun
no longer trees

Now

Consumed wood-bones
armatures hidden
by a bright sunlt
smother of green ivy

Religion, Not Faith

2010-03-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

There is no consumption
like religion
a "speak to me" institution

resolving everything
contritely buttoning
light & dark ongoing

life & ambition enveloping
into a pocket conveniently

In My Neighborhood (She Knows She's Crazy)

2010-02-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

She knows she's crazy
On her meds staggering around
With dog in tow

She knows sometimes
Sitting on my stoop
Talking to herself then to the dog

About neigborhood
About her missed opportunities
About love missed

And she cries
As eastbound traffic swoops by
Then lurches off

Dragging dog memories
Following the traffic

A Knife Like No Other

2010-01-31T13:42:00.000-08:00

A knife like no other
Tip'n'tang bone'to'handle

And a handle to hold onto
To hold on to a thought

The handle itself courteous
Carved of you so rare a dream

New Age

2010-01-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

'Twas the time

Of posting gratuitous email
of facebook and of such
of shoaling up mentally like snow
against & over cars burying them

. . . & aren't we glad

To escape humanity hugely
like great waterbirds running
the surface winging flapping
scooping up to an overview

. . . & aren't we glad

Of white clumps mounds below
of undefined shadows
ignoring a waving hand
insignificant amid the chatter

Perfect Family

2009-12-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

There is no perfect family only
laughter despite loss or gain
sometimes laughter hiding pain

Misbegivings misattachments
recall a nest of future-past
of people/thoughts always laughing

Snow Dreams/New York City

2009-12-10T07:19:00.000-08:00

While raw here cold rain
reminding one of winter
north there's a sticking snow
first of the season

I wonder looking at bleakness
when droning rain will turn
streets & parks white
bare trees leaf'd with ice

Our Mother

2009-11-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

Always adamant
passionate she made her rules
in the kitchen & elsewhere
& from her lips important words
would rise while stirring a brainchild

. . . we'd listened too
to pots & pans & free-form thoughts
simmering & What Mom would do

So Much To Tell You

2009-11-16T16:53:00.000-08:00

So much to tell you my love
hoping my uttered words
through an open window
become wings or autumn leaves
planing down to earth at your feet

World Series Haiku

2009-11-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

Balloons to explode!
No easy way to describe
Yankees well alive!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

A World Series Poem

2009-10-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

Eight . . . four . . . two
now a World Series venue

bat and ball ball and bat
pitchers arms curved awkward

that

their pitches skew batters
drive them crazy inside out

then

the lazy curve a sudden hit
between two players

now

the breath exhales
the game is on

For Dino Valenti (of Quicksilver Messenger Service)

2009-10-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

All the songs have been sung
all prayers have been prayed

Your falsetto voice now dead

When you sang "I love you"
from the far end of a hollow

& through a tube to explosion

outward upward singing
I love you I love you!

A crescendo I still hear

Now the fall-out the stars
hang & glitter-dust remains

To remind to remind

A Baseball Poem #5

2009-10-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Baseball’s October Play

Variable Fall
Now white-striped for bat for glove
For fields one last time

A Baseball Poem #4

2009-09-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

Baseball Fundamental

A foul off the bat
is simply that recovered

then

handed off to younger hands
the exchange a part of history

The Passing Of Someone

2009-09-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

To see to observe to feel
Others pass away

There is no poetry in this
But there are these ripples

the surf-song boats put out
& returning waves remind

House Rise

2009-08-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

Closed the level bubble rising inside expands
Open the windows open the mind

What elevation required before birds swim
Through the porch door then out the back again

Unpressured renewal a rush of wings
What barometer with all windows

Open upstairs downstairs front door & back
Elevation a birdsong & no release from height

Marooned Pirate

2009-08-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

Aye . . . a bad term already

something in-the-pocket
something me-related
now I has no need for it
baronet of an empty beach

perhaps something dark green
even a swamp would be the thing
more human & not
a sand trace where I doesn't matter

. . . but resourcefulness does begin

Generations

2009-08-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Generations generations
Ideas ideas from the sea

A need to understand the surf
Its lacy foam thrown out

A bed sheet laid down on sand
Then pulled back again

Family Trek, New York

2009-08-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

Is time travel possible? Yes
The square root of life? Yes

It takes a calculator – the heart

The sunlight on Walker Drive
The house at the end on the right
A cul de sac a stronghold
Of heart dreams & such punched in

Day-to-day a sliding screen
To the deck to the grill
& later Sunday a morning paper unrolled
with coffee rolls & jam

And passing into afternoon quietly
Combing the green kissing the sky
While overhead raptors may gyre
Here a family on Walker Drive

The calculator the home

Is time travel possible? Yes
The square root of life? Yes

From The Hudson River, Looking Back To Manhattan - August 2009

2009-08-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

40th Anniversary - The Astronauts

2009-07-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

Leaning into a long tube & then out again
An imperturbable no-panic visage
Sunlight reflected on a gold-coated visor

The uncalculated responses heroes would say
Seeing an airless Moon covered in pumice
Seeing an Earth so fragile so naked

And then to come home

Kite/Figure In The Sky (Central Park, New York City)

2009-07-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Younger than green bamboo
I was taught at Sheep Meadow
How to fly

Shape spine
Taper & bend bow
Describe edges point-to-point
With good Indian thread
And assemble

Lay this all down on paper
Crease fold & glue
Test for balance test for tension
Rightness & good looks
Then attach a string

Younger then green bamboo
I was taut on a string
Taught at Sheep Meadow

Night Sky, New York City - July 2009

2009-07-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

Star

2009-06-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

Seeing you this night I don't know
your name you remain out of reach
your light a million years of memory

of what had been & what could be
and now this future-past your light
straight line traveling a void of black

entering a mind's eye
I wonder Are you there? Who am I?

Saturday Afternoon, New York City- June 2009

2009-06-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

Golf muted & baseball boomimg
hushed voices & "outta here!"
broadcast airways serrated by rain
& edged with yet more rain

Central Park green as ever seen
a verdant landscape a sheen
overhead a thick trunk & overhang
choked dark with creepers

beneath the quick & sudden lightning
I swear You are the one

Impressionistic June, New York City

2009-06-15T19:31:00.001-07:00

A few moments outside then
dense skies open
sudden rain hail water
overwhelming curbs & drains

And I (as usual) caught
the intersection of no canopies
no overhangs no shelter
swollen rivers at the corners

Ninth Avenue rainbow-arched
black umbrellas black-covered legs
water moving
standstill traffic waiting

Finding a doorway
watching the unload I think of you

You Deserve

2009-06-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

You deserve so deserve
more than poetry I can offer
today tomorrow further/farther

. . . and I wonder
about my own luck un-deserved
serving you dreams to come true

A Baseball Poem #3

2009-06-05T20:04:00.001-07:00

Anticipation’s eyes locked
pitcher to batter/batter to pitcher
catcher & umpire close-ended
joint of a bright green fan laid down

warning track- & foul line-edged
spread open to an outfield
of groomed grass where
an oiled glove is thumped waiting

Skewed New York City Skyline - May 2009

2009-05-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

An Angler Cook's Lament & Thanks

2009-05-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

If only I'd released the perfume
aroma of sweet onions sooner
& not waited so long . . .

for an iron skillet's worth of heat
now burning onions & my fish into
something like blackened cat food

. . . but didn't the onions miraculous
caramelized fish flashed with lemon
& the glistening white shingles sizzled

A Thought /A Love Poem

2009-05-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

My love you have no reason to reply
No need to & here's the Why

The Why your presence already
Here I lucky for knowing you

I do know this this I know
& you have no reason to reply

A Baseball Poem #2

2009-05-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Summer Days

All the marbles explosive
shuttled day-to-day each
& every swing a pitch

changing now the switch
to summer to a hard ball
arcing high a home run

A Baseball Poem #1

2009-05-13T17:27:00.000-07:00

Looking To Summer

Slower than a slider
the sun the breeze today
a wild pitch of weather is

The sky settled in May's dugout
a month's sun-and-cloud teaming
. . . and what of defense?

We'll see large bulky clouds
crouch, the sun concuss
& diamond dreams evolve

Across The Hudson River/The Old Mountains West - Peekskill, NY, May 2009

2009-05-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

Looking Southwest, The Hudson River - Peekskill, NY, May 2009

2009-05-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

Looking East, Sunset #1 - New York City, May 2009

2009-05-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

Looking East, Sunset #2 - New York City, May 2009

2009-05-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

A Spring Thought

2009-05-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

My heart beats right now

Slant-wise the sunset & everything
golden bagged trash ginko trees
granite curbs the stumps of buildings
their windows westward
like sudden bursts of amber

& I wonder about all things undone

The Patience Of Tigers

2009-05-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

The patience of tigers
in tall grasses lying
ears swiveling tails curling
hairs prickling game
yet to come & now waiting

Moon Light/Skyline Swirl - New York City, September 2008

2009-04-30T00:17:00.000-07:00

Waterfall Project - East River, New York City, September 2008

2009-04-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

Anniversary

2009-04-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

My love where's time gone?

Already this is afternoon
& our own time's still a'bloom

speaking volumes an explosion
of flowers in window boxes

here or isle'd Murano fired
loud with impatiens & effluence

with history our history

Traditional Flower Box - Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2007

2009-04-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Tidal Pool - Kejimkujik, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2007

2009-04-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

Far Off #1 - Kejimkujik, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2007

2009-04-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Far Off #2 - Kejimkujik, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2007

2009-04-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

Bleak Road - Outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, January 2006

2009-04-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

Overgrown Memories - Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2007

2009-04-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

I Am Missing You #2 (From Older Words)

2009-04-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

Already I am missing you

Planes trains & automobiles
speak of nothing but hardware
. . . But you speak to me

through thought through memory
your voice inflectioned in person
by telephone & in my dreams

. . . Already I am missing you

Coastline - Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2006

2009-04-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

April/May 2009

2009-04-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

With every April shower . . .

first the red of Columbine
then Virginia Tech's bloom
now comes Binghamton
bringing poisoned flowers

. . . & I'd like to see humanity
get some reason this season

Beach & Ocean #1 - Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2006

2009-04-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

Beach & Ocean #2- Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2006

2009-04-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Beach & Ocean #3 - Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2006

2009-04-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

What Time Is It? - Historic Peekskill, New York, December 25, 2008

2009-04-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

Age Standing At The Curbside

2009-03-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

Age standing at the curbside
looking both ways the indifferent
traffic continuously chewing

Coming from where/where to go?
What's approaching being better
than what has just passed?

Age crosses. . . .

The Weight - Historic Old Santa Fe, New Mexico, January 2008

2009-03-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Spring In The Apartment

2009-03-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Changeable weather I hear
with my skin thrum
the tamboor roof in between

& overhead pattering
now the clouds briefly open
sun's slant fingering through

Late Afternoon, Just Before Sunset #2 - Yorktown Heights, New York, November 2008

2009-03-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

Late Afternoon, Just Before Sunset #1 -Yorktown Heights, New York, November 2008

2009-03-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

My Love Today Is Spring

2009-03-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

My love today is Spring
sunlight & sky & lightness of senses
an openness on the streets
like fields & farm stable doors open
the horses elsewhere

And you my sweet wandering through
tulip & crocus patches
seeing mares & stallions in the clouds

Late Afternoon South, The Atlantic Ocean - Fire Island, New York, August 2008

2009-03-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Day - Yorktown Heights, New York, November 2008

2009-03-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Wing & Desert - New Mexico, January 2007

2009-03-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

Fall Or Spring?

2009-03-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

My love is it Fall or Spring?
my calendar says the latter

like displayed pewter ware
sun & light lowly slanted

but late at night punctuated
chunk a'thump by a radiator

Light House - Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2007

2009-03-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

About The Past - The Coronado National Monument, New Mexico, January 2005

2009-03-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

Sunset #2 - Nova Scotia (beach west of Halifax), Canada, September 2007

2009-03-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

When The Over Night Comes

2009-03-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

When the over night comes
when four in the morning
is night smoke thinning
& daybreak soon to be
I am dislodging dreams
& what-if memories

Before the morning & past night
when I went to bed
the in-between thoughts
having weight do resonate
& your presence is what
I talk to making sense of all

Christmas Day - Yorktown Heights, New York, December 2008

2009-03-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Sunstet #2 - Columbus Isle (San Salvador), The Bahamas, July 2006

2009-03-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

Late Saturday Afternoon - Fire Island, New York, August 2007

2009-03-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

Sunset #1 - Nova Scotia (beach west of Halifax), Canada, September 2007

2009-03-05T20:10:00.000-08:00

Old Wood - Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 2007

2009-03-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

Koi #1 - Santa Fe, New Mexico, January 2009

2009-03-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

Koi #2 - Santa Fe, New Mexico, January 2009

2009-03-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

The Falconer - Central Park, New York City, New York, February 2003

2009-03-05T12:40:00.000-08:00

Cristo Gate - Central Park, New York City, New York, February 2003

2009-03-05T12:36:00.000-08:00

Restored 1939 Auto Union Rac Car (Audi Park Avenue showroom), New York City, New York 2005

2009-03-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

Sunset #1 - Columbus Isle (San Salvador), The Bahamas, July 2005

2009-03-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

Late Afternoon In Venice - Italy, September 2004

2009-03-05T12:24:00.000-08:00