Tuesday, December 29, 2009

That Other Room

That other room
or wing
or floor
always hidden,
always new.

Reclusive,
expansive,
safe.

It shows up
in dreams
over and over
this secret inner life
of buildings
turning formerly
static places
into neverending
caverns or labyrinths.

There's an extra stairway
or bathroom,
often bathroom,
huge, steamy,
empty bathroom
with the showers
all running,
or stairway
that goes nowhere
or is too large
or too long,
or it's
an oddly shaped room
on a new floor,
sometimes in a basement
or sub-basement.

On and on
again and again
over and over
in dreams.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 24, 2009

Sunday, December 27, 2009

More Evidence

More evidence that you're
not alone in the universe:
I've started leaving my change
in your change jar.


-Jim DuBois
Sept 20, 2005

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Gone So Long

You've been gone so long
your Tivo has started
recommending things I like


-Jim DuBois
Sept 12, 2005

Sunday, December 20, 2009

the deepest dreams

Sometimes it only lies
in the deepest dreams,
    the creosote dollars,
        the flat sand

I don't know what it means
    but I'm saying it anyway
I don't know what it means,
    but the water is running clean,
        free from the sodium pentathol
        free at last!
            from the sodium pentathol

I don't know what it means
I never know what it means
but there's a fountain in the wilderness
and they're all coming to drink
while the stones crumble away


-Jim DuBois
1997ish

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Computer summary of my older poems

I was putting together a book of poetry for publication on Lulu.com, and I tried the executive summary tool, just to see what it would come up with. Here's the result, which I enjoy:


            some-times
Shirt,
Shirt,
Shirt,

shirt,
Including time

it’s time
      in time.
      if I lived


-Jim DuBois + computer
Nov 10, 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

Outside in the Night

                        our carefully laid structures
            crumble under the pressure
of their own improbability.

Outside in the night, the trucks rumble by
            shaking the foundation,

innocent of our passion,
            oblivious to our wandering thoughts.


-Jim DuBois
'96 and today.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Short poems about an old lover

Sleeping with you
beneath purple horse and yellow sky
my heart wakes up


Walking home
thinking of ______
a bird hops by


Walking you home
in my stolen red shirt
the streets are quiet



Swinging gently in my hammock
the knot in my stomach unclenches
I think I just got over you



-Jim DuBois
c 1996

Friday, November 27, 2009

Sometimes



I put together another book of my poetry, which you can get online from a print on demand service. This is a larger collection of poems I wrote in the 1990s, and it covers a wide variety of themes, including love, spirituality, nature and space travel.

Sometimes - a collection of older poems

Thursday, November 26, 2009

You

It wasn't anyone
any different than you

who started that last
revolution,

who fell in love,

who was remembered
    for thousands of years.


-Jim DuBois
2006

Friday, November 20, 2009

Fat Little Birds

Fat little birds,
  in the dirt and sand by the roadside

Fat little birds,
  in the dry leaves under the car

Fat little birds,
  my hands are cold
    as I zip up my coat


-Jim DuBois
Oct 30, 2002

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

40 Short Poems


I put together a book of some short poems (many of which aren't on this blog). Now you can get a printed version of my work.

40 Short Poems

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Dirty Old Windows

Dirty old windows -
you still let the light through.


-Jim DuBois
Feb 23, 2005

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

* Five Special Colors *

This poem
now comes in five special colors
and is suitable for use
on fourteen different
    special occasions.

Wherever you see an asterisk,
substitute the name of a loved one,
or a touching word from the list
    at the end.

Don't worry too much
about meaning --
or originality --
what matters most
is that you bought it
    from us.


-Jim DuBois
March 19, 2005

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Scent of my Childhood

Sometimes
I catch the scent
of my childhood,

in the swampy air
from the stream
down the hill,

in the rotting leaves
on the bike path
through the woods.

Sometimes
I catch the scent
of my childhood,

of the magic
that I had forgotten,

of the goodness
I used to know more about.


-Jim DuBois
Oct 22, 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Half an Hour

Half an hour
between one thing

and the next.

How can I
live these moments well?


-Jim DuBois
Oct 22, 2009

Friday, October 23, 2009

The World is Mine

I like to go downtown
get a 33 cent pad of paper
and $1 pen
and sit on a bench
and draw
and write
and feel like
    the world is mine


-Jim DuBois
Oct 22, 2009

Sunday, October 18, 2009

(Sorting) Laundry

Shirt,
Shirt,
Shirt,

Socks, pants, shirt,

Why do I have so many shirts?

shirt,
long-sleeved shirt,
pants,
pajamas,

I wonder how other people categorize their laundry?

I have the most categories for shirts,

shirt,
long-sleeved shirt,
shirt I need to hang on a hanger,
Oh! this shirt's not really dry yet...

Maybe I'll do more laundry tomorrow.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 22, 1998

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Summer, anyway

Bird, hopping on a gravestone

Bird perched on a tomb

The green green grass

Sweat standing on my neck



-Jim DuBois
July 20, 2003

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Running Around Eastworks

Running around Eastworks
after Mama's birthday dinner,
we saw the bear!
we ran around the little shack
  with all the poems,
we ran up and down the big hallways.

Watching you reminded me
that it's ok to love.


-Jim DuBois
March 2009

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Great themes in poetry


  1. Quit procrastinating,
          you’ll be dead soon

  2. Flower = vagina,
          please have sex with me

  3. This government sucks,
          but I can’t say that directly

  4. I am lonely, angry,
          (fill-in the blank), etc.

  5. This poem
          is a self-reflective poem

  6. I’m a fairly clever intellectual

  7. I actually love you,
          and could tell you over and over

  8. It’s spring,
          life is filled with beauty, possibility and newness

  9. It’s autumn,
          life is rich but impermanent



-Jim DuBois
March 20, 2005

Friday, September 25, 2009

Because of You (Make Another Poem)

Two summers ago I was trying to make up a simple poetry form. I wanted something simple, positive, and rhythmic. An easy form and way to remind other people that they matter to us and the world.

Here is the result of it. Please make up one or two and post them!

The rules:

1. The whole poem is to someone in particular who has made a positive impact on your life. You pick who.
2. Three lines, each starting with "Because of you"
3. One of the lines (you pick which one) has nothing else on it.
4. The other two lines have concrete details of what is better in your life and the world because of the person. Try to be as sincere as you can. And be positive.
5. When the poem is done, post it on their profile, or send them an email of it, or send a copy in the actual mail, or recite it to them, or something friendly like that. (Also, post it here in a comment, so we can see it too!)

Here's a recent one:

(To Kara)

Because of you.
Because of you
    there's a lot more love
    in my life these days.
Because of you
    there's a lot more love
    in the world.


Here are my two, from that summer. (I also posted them on their Facebook walls):

(To Phoebe)

Because of you I'm sleeping better lately
Because of you I sang part of a song as I walked along
Because of you


(To Kristen)

Because of you
Because of you I'm happily reading the last Harry Potter
Because of you the lives of my friend and her child are better

Saturday, September 19, 2009

My Dance Shoes ( + Make a poem )

I wrote a poem a year or so ago, and then invented a poetic form from it. Here's the poem:

---
My dance shoes,
black,
slightly worn,
resting after a night of lindy hopping.

Meanwhile,
the milky way
hurtles along its billion year journey.
---

Now here is how you can use the same form, and make a poem, which I really really hope you will do, and post in a comment on this blog. Just follow the directions below.
(the numbers are what line it is, and anything in ( ) is a direction about what to write on that line. Anything besides numbers and directions should be written in the poem, like punctuation and "meanwhile".)

---
1. (concrete, knowable everyday object(s) ),
2. (adjective describing the object(s) ),
3. (a short phrase describing the object(s) ),
4. (an 'ing' phrase [resting, running, reading, etc] about what the object(s) are doing at the moment).

5. Meanwhile,
6. (a very large almost ungraspable concrete object. Meaning something that exists, rather than an entirely abstract concept, but one that is hard to comprehend entirely)
7. (what that object does right now, using a present tense verb [runs, eats, sleeps, hurtles, etc] ).
---

Previously posted on my MySpace blog, with poems after it by other people

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Many Words on a List

Red
Car
Music
Pizza
love
Day
Pretty
Sky
Blue
Cloud
Dirt
Grass
Run
Run
Run!!!


-Jim DuBois
1999ish

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

List

Poetry
is
more
than
a
list
of
words
red
it
is
an
art
form
art
form
dog
car
stereo


-Jim DuBois
1999ish

Friday, September 11, 2009

Jeremiah

I remember that time
we were walking
along the Holyoke ridge
and you said,
"It looks like these
are basalt columns
that thrust up
through the earth
about 200 million years ago,"
and I thought,
"he just wants to sound
like he's smart,"
but the plaque
at the end of the trail
said almost exactly
what you had.

Another time
we were talking on the phone
and you mentioned
that some days
you only try to have
as much motivation
as is needed
to do the immediate
next thing,
such as reach the doorknob
and leave a room,
and I thought,
"he's just trying
to sound inspirational,"
but many many years later
I still think about
what a helpful perspective
you offered me.

Now, I'm glad
that despite my momentary cynicisms
I got to see your mind
functioning well.


-Jim DuBois
Sep 10, 2009

Sunday, September 6, 2009

When You Were Almost Two

When you were almost two,
you and me and Shahana
ran around in Eastworks
while our other people
talked after dinner
at the Apollo Grill.

There was this huge plastic bear
in one of the windows
and I lifted you up
so you could get a better view.
Shahana wanted to see too,
so I picked her up with my other arm
and we looked at the bear together.

We laughed and talked and pointed
and I felt peaceful and happy and content.

I held you guys for as long as I could,
until my arms got tired,
but if I could, I'd be there still,
holding you up to see the bear.


-Jim DuBois
March + Aug 2009

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Summer Musings

I. The Mountain

On the trip up the mountain,
I think about how, in life,
as opposed to in stories,
there are a lot of loose ends
and characters you meet briefly
that seem interesting
but play no further part.

I wonder about the people I met today.
Do they figure prominently?
Are they major or minor figures
in this mini-drama?


II. Skinny-Dipping

Sometimes, seeing girls naked is relaxing
because there are no longer any secret hidden mysteries
that they might have.
They are just people with bodies.
And boobs become just,
well, boobs.


III. The Neighborhood

Walking around the neighborhood,
I am amazed by the community and closeness
people could have, but don't.
There is so much quietness and distance
packed into a small area.
It's as if everyone is holed-up
in their own castle,
waiting out the siege.


-Jim DuBois
June, 2007

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

I Have This

I have this pen
and I have this brain
and I have a world to live in

this pen
this brain
and a world to live in


-Jim DuBois
July 11, 2008

Friday, August 21, 2009

Haircut

Haircut haircut haircut

sittin' at Tracey's wedding
thinkin' 'bout my haircut
it didn't come out how I wanted
but things don't always, anyways

I forgot a belt today,
and the flute playing didn't go how I thought -
which is neither good or bad,
just how it is

I thought I was losing hearing in one ear,
and worried about it a little,
but watched this little girl
bopping a balloon into the air
with her head
and she really wasn't worried,
just energetically bopping the balloon,
and it reminded me of this little dog
I saw once that ran all around energetically,
and maybe a little oddly,
and I didn't find out 'til later
that the dog was totally blind

The funny thing was it almost seemed to not know it was blind,
and it definitely didn't care
or get held back in any way about it
and I thought,
it's ok that I forgot that belt,
and I can live with this haircut,
'cuz hair keeps growing and changing anyways

And what is hair?
The beautiful uncut grass of heads...


-JIM DuBois
Aug 16, 2009

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Face the Sun

Turn your face to the sun
once more,
for you truly are
a being of light,
come to life
because of explosions
in a star.


-Jim DuBois
Aug 11, 2009

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Ordinary Days on Planet Earth

The light from the sun
travels to earth every day,
soaks into the ground,
        the dirt,
        the water,
        the rocks,

and the plants burst upwards
in a multitude of colors

and the animals grow
and change
and evolve,
wandering over the land
and in the sea

and the people
are simply starlight
with brains and hands

they create marvelous art and music

they solve incredible problems
with knowledge, ingenuity
and vast imaginations

they invent technology
to communicate with each other
and transform the lives
of billions

and though they
don't always know it,
they are
        striving striving striving
to be good,
and kind
to one another.


-Jim DuBois
Aug 11, 2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

Some Alarming Traits

You are displaying some
alarming traits lately,
Mr. DuBois.

Searching in the sandy snow-piles
for change,

wandering through town
in the middle of the day,

these are traits
one normally associates
with highly unemployed
persons.

Do you ever think about
where it might lead?

What if you found enjoyment
in all those little moments
which make up a day?

What if you never wanted
to work again?

Where would we be,
Mr. DuBois,
if everyone believed
they had a right to
the life they wanted to live?

Do you ever think about
your influences on others?

You are setting an example
with your blissfully positive
faith in the universe,
Mr. DuBois,
and I shudder to think
where we would be
if even a few others
adopted your slackerly ways.


-Jim DuBois
Feb 1, 2001

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

I Don't Know Exactly What to Say

I was gunna
write this poem
about the feelings
I'm having
about dating you,
but there haven't been
any disasters,
and I'm not filled
with unattainable longing
and you're not at all cold
or distant
and I realized
there's no pressure
because you like
my actual natural self
and so I guess
I don't know
exactly what to say
or even exactly
how to write
a love poem
when I'm so
relaxed and happy.


-Jim DuBois
July 22, 2009

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Love note poem #1 for Kara

Hey! It's wednesday,
and I miss you!
The hugging and kissing
and especially
the love.


-Jim
July 22, 2009

Sunday, July 19, 2009

I Wonder What Happened to Ferris Bueller

I wonder what happened
to Ferris Bueller
after his day off?

Did he pull more amazing stunts
until the end of his days
or did he get crushed
by the monotonous routines
of adult life?

Maybe he works at the Post Office
but hangs out smoking dope
with "Shaggy" (from Scooby Doo)
at night
and they talk for hours
about the good old days
when the kids were always right.

Maybe he got real fat
and loves bowling.

Maybe he doesn't give a fuck.

Maybe he's in a ditch somewhere
right now,
moaning, wishing for
the techni-color days
of high school to return.

Maybe he's dead
or a political activist
or both
or a vegetarian
or a card-carrying NRA member.

Who knows?


-Jim DuBois
July 15, 2000

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Three Snakes

I saw these three snakes
and a ton of frogs
and it reminded me
of when
things like that
really mattered


-Jim DuBois
April 24, 2007

Monday, July 6, 2009

In the Weeks Right After Josh Was Born

Once, in the weeks right after Josh was born,
I typed my thoughts into the computer,
and cried about how hard it is
to care about someone innocent
who you know
must face a hard world.

Not that I think the world is only hard.
I also think it is fantastic
and I love living.
There is so much to do,
so much I want to do.


-Jim DuBois
March 25, 2008

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Continuing My Mission

I’m continuing my mission
    to become closer
    to these…
    …humans, sir.

On the whole I am making
    good progress:
    I have walked among them,
    gone to “parties”
    and, in recent days,
    have become intimately involved
    with a woman…

She is my “girlfriend”,
    as they call it
    here on earth.

However,
    there are times
    when certain unforseen feelings
    arise
    and distract me
            (albeit, momentarily)
    from my main objective.

Jealousy,
            anger,
                        loneliness, -
   
these unpleasant preoccupations
    were not covered
    thoroughly enough
    in my training, sir.

I recommend a level 2 debriefing
    for all personnel
    engaged in “caring for one another”
    and also for those
    currently in training
    to do so.

In closing,
    I would like to give you
    what the humans call
    a “hug”.

***

It’s ok, sir:
    I found them unpleasant at first, too.

With practice,
    that will fade,
    and one day
        you might like them.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 15, 2000

Saturday, June 20, 2009

In the Winter, I saw Ducks

I hear the unceasing hum
of the traffic in the distance;

Everyone is rushing to get somewhere
and not spending much time
being anywhere.

In the winter, I saw ducks
swimming on an icy stream,
dipping their heads down into the water
to eat, like they always do.

I imagine the people turning off their cars
and placidly floating along like ducks
on the currents of life,
not controlled by those currents
and not resisting them either.


-Jim DuBois


This is an selection from my book of poetry philosophy, "Like the Sun". You can get a copy here

Monday, June 15, 2009

Already Broken

The glass
is already
broken

The house
is already
empty

My bones
are crumbling
to dust


-JD
April 5, 1998

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Sometimes

Sometimes you see the shadows
But miss the birds


-Jim DuBois
Sept 4, 1999

Thursday, June 11, 2009

All I had left

All I had left
    was
The quietness
    of
My own footsteps


-Jim DuBois
May 30, 1999

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Far Reaches of the Galaxy

Lately,
      I’ve been having this fantasy
      that I’m travelling
      through the far-reaches
            of the galaxy

I’m riding alone
      aboard this spacecraft
      and there’s nothing to do
      except relax
            and see where I end up

Worrying won’t help you
      when you are millions of miles away
      from where you want
            to be,
      And I have accepted this
      and appreciate the nearby stars
            and my sturdy ship

But I am waiting for that
      garbled subspace transmission,
      (which I think will arrive any day now
      from the higher life-forms
      on planet earth)
      which says,
            “You’ve paid your dues,
                  it’s time
                  to come home.”


-Jim DuBois
1998

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Crows

But those crows
    up in the bare
                         winter trees

Reminded me
                    how to live:

Go somewhere,

Open up your mouth
            and make some noise,

Go somewhere else.

            Repeat.


-Jim DuBois
2000?

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sometimes

Sometimes...

well, you know

Sometimes
    maybe
        whatever

-Jim
Sept 30, 2000

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Untitled

It could be me,
It could be you,
It could be as soon as Now


-Jim DuBois
Oct 14, 2004

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Earth's Last Poets

Scrawling defiant love poems
on the debris of a crumbling society

Flinging meaning-laden words
into the abyss of consumerism

Bearing the human standard
inches ahead of the flames of war


-Jim DuBois
Aug 1, 2005

Friday, May 8, 2009

The green champagne bottle

The green champagne bottle
on the side of the road
reminded me of being young.

We used to play in the old junkyards
behind the barn,
collecting the pretty blue bottles,
the miniature bottles,
and the large rusty cans
and scraps of metal
which we couldn’t determine
a past identity for.

We stocked a boulder fortress
on the frontier of our exploration
with such goods,
and wondered how people could have
thrown them out in the first place,
since they were still interesting
and useful.


-Jim DuBois
Nov 3, 2003

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Economy of Memory

I'm watching a sea of static on TV
    late at night

I'm talking to my girlfriend on the phone

I'm writing a poem
    and finishing it later

I'm living in a tent behind Hampshire College

I'm going nowhere

I'm standing on the balcony of F2,
    going nowhere

I'm living on Bridge Street in Northampton

I'm thinking about thinking

I'm thinking about memory

I'm taking off my shirt

I'm looking at the clock

I'm wondering how it will end
    and when it began

I'm floating, a tiny black-eyed fetus
    in amniotic fluid

I'm making notes for a future poem

I'm learning to write the alphabet
    by tracing sandpaper letters

I'm writing a story for the first time
    in my life

I am six

I am twenty-five

I am thirty-four

I'm telling her about myself

I'm using her attention
    to search through my memory,
    to reconstruct myself
    from different angles

I'm telling you about telling her

I'm remembering remembering



-Jim DuBois
Dec 13, 2003

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Artifacts of my Intelligence

Artifacts of my intelligence
Artifacts of my imagination
Artifacts of my existence,
    like a poem or a painting

Artifacts of my consciousness
Artifacts of my memory
Artifacts of my mind,
    like a signature or a sentence

leftover creations,
manipulated playthings,
static reminders
of a fluid mind
-- they can't be me --
I just leave behind things
which illuminate a tiny fraction
of my complexity,
that might give you that clue
you've been looking for for so long
that shows you are not alone
-- someone, some other mind,
    is out there,
        thinking,
            doing,
                creating.


-Jim DuBois
March 29, 2009

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Overlooked

I hear there is more
    old growth forest left in Massachusetts
    than they thought.

In narrow bands,
    too high for logging,
    too low to clear for skiing,
        they stand in the mountains
            like they always have
                because no one had a use
                    for the place they lived.

And I want to look
    behind a person’s eyes,
        to the ruined landscape,
                to the left-over places
                of their minds
            just to see what
                is still growing there,
                    undisturbed
                        by the turbulence
                            of oppression.

Those places that went un-noticed
    by society,
    the places they forgot were there.


-Jim DuBois
January 20, 1999

Monday, April 6, 2009

(Discarded Left-over Abandoned Forgotten)
Edges + Lost Places

                             vacant upstairs apartment
I broke into the

And crept out onto the roof

I kept thinking of
            the cracks in the sidewalk
            the grass growing in the alley
            the vines on the fence
                  between the parking lots

The forgotten places where
      two things border one another

The discarded, left-over space between
      one clear definition and another

Cracks
            Borders
                        Edges

The places people rarely look into
            like beneath the sofa cushions where the change collects

or
      the strip of trees beside the highway where I
found the skull of a dog
and undergrowth so thick
      you couldn’t walk through it


-Jim DuBois
July 20, 1998

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Frontiers and Membranes

The river meets the bank –
      the garbage,
      the old bricks on the beach
      the dead fish

Discarded signs of life
      washed up
      in a useless
      forgotten place

Nobody knows,
      Nobody cares,
            Nobody goes there,
                  down where the
                  bushes are scratchy,
                  down among
                  the poison ivy
                  where the aluminum can
                  and broken Styrofoam chunks
                        are resting

And what about the bugs
      we don’t even know exist?
What about the bacteria
      that live in colonies
      on our skin?
What about maggots and dung beetles?

Their whole existence is on the
      edge of another life,
      between the lines of someone else’s
            plans

The things we were done with
      the places we couldn’t use


-Jim DuBois
Oct 1, 1998

Thursday, March 26, 2009

I've Lost Track of Time

I've lost track of time
I've lost track of day and night
I've come to the edge of town
to sit and think
and apparently write some poems

I've lost track of what little ambition I had
I've lost track of my desire
I'm enjoying the sun and day downtown


-Jim DuBois
March 14, 2009

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Spring

Dirty snow melt-off
trickles down the drain
  - spring is here!

-Jim

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Monday, March 9, 2009

A World Full of Strangers

Time cracks the face of youth,
time cracks the images of your idols
– you’re not in love with
a person any longer,
just images
from years ago.

Even the people you knew,
you don’t still know,
they’re just distorted memories.

Who do you know?
Who do you think you know?
‘Cause you only know
who they just were.


-Jim DuBois
2005?

Monday, March 2, 2009

Genetic Astrology

They say
your destiny
has been written

in the stars
of your genetic make-up.

You can only be
so smart
so inventive
so analytical
you know.

Your mind
has been made up
for you,
since you were
born under the
constellation
of the
double helix.

It is a system
that has a place
for all of us,
even those destined
to be toilet cleaners
and idiots –
just remember
never to rise above
your station
or have any ambitions –
you’ll only be
disappointed by
your limitations.

There’s no arguing
with science.

Now go back
to that stupid job
and quit complaining.


-Jim DuBois
Aug 1, 2005

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Sound of What If

The sound of what if
The sound of whatever
Some days it's 'ooo, ahh'
And some days it's 'oh well'


-Jim DuBois

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Mini-Skirt

She wore that mini-skirt
like a chain around her neck.


-JD
1997?

Saturday, February 7, 2009

What To Do Next (Jan 11, 2009)

"I'm a free man
and it doesn't matter
what I do right now,"
I thought to myself
and it completely
left me stumped
about what to do next,
so I stood on the corner
by the car place,
spit into the snow
and watched the shiny fringe
flutter in the sun.


-Jim DuBois

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Monday, February 2, 2009

Oberon Returns (Jan 28, 2009)

Oberon returns,
    running full force
    through the veil of worlds,
    wearing his magic white boots
    and gossamer armor.

He breaks through
    into the land
    of snow and ice,
    crouching low
        in the drifts,
    feral and vital,
    hunting, hunting
    for the flower
    with the thousand year berries,
    and the alabaster bones
    of the griffon.


-Jim DuBois

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Just Keep Running

I remember running at Hampshire College...

...through the woods & snow with Cedar,
reckless and excited,
because we could,
and I don't remember why.

...jumping and yelling, like a dog,
behind Amy skiing,
later running in the snowstorm
without a shirt
(and once without my shoes ... brrr)
to amuse & impress her
and just to let out
the energy
of my desire.

...across from Greenwich to Prescott
with Dave and Rachel,
getting tired halfway
and stopping
for a moment in the sun
to say,
"I just realized
that when you get that feeling
that you're too tired,
and can't go on,
you have to just keep running,"
and we got up
and ran.

-Jim DuBois

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Monday, January 19, 2009

Walking Shirtless (Sept 17, 2005)

Walking shirtless
up a back trail
at Mt. Tom,
I feel the airy spider-webs
cross my chest

Running back down
I am drenched
by the sudden rain


-Jim DuBois

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Philsophical Questions for the Modern Age

1.

If a tree falls in the forest
but is recorded by
an automated survelliance camera
and later the video ends up on YouTube
but people only watch it with the sound off,
did that tree make a noise?

2.

What happens to your Facebook account when you die?

3.

There are billions of fabulous human beings in the world. Why do we so often feel alone?


- Jim DuBois

Thursday, January 8, 2009

This is the Coat (March 31, 2007)

This
is the coat

This is the coat

This is the coat
I wore when you were born

This is the coat
my brother gave me

This is the coat
I wore every day this week


-Jim DuBois


Monday, January 5, 2009

Facebook

Jim is relaxed. 1:41am
Jim needs paper bags. 1:50am
Jim is pondering the wisdom of the sages. 1:50am
Jim is maybe calling this a poem. 1:54am


-Jim