Quabbin Hike in February

Snow covering ev-
erything. No Place to sit!
Trudge _Trudge Trudge _Trudge Trudge


-Jim DuBois
Feb 19, 2017

How I used to write poems

Like the sun
Like gravity and hurricanes
Like the first day of spring
Like the first snowflake of winter
Like the smell of rain on warm pavement
Like the secret fort in the stone wall from long ago
Like those early friendships
Like the ever-expanding universe
Like a radio-wave
Like first love
Like possibilities
Like nothingness


-Jim DuBois
April 12, 2015

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve
in this creaky old
apartment,
so quiet, so peaceful
-- almost everyone else
has gone away.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 24, 2014

Chasing Sunsets

I remember
getting up late
in the winter one year
and going out to chase
the last bit
of sun
and running into you.

We went to Fire and Water
and sat there for a minute
before inspiration struck
and we decided
to go climb Bare Mountain.

Even though
it was pretty late,
we thought if we rushed,
we could make it to
the top for the sunset.

Of course, it was January
and there was slick
ice-covered snow
all over that steep trail
and we had to drive
a half hour to start,
but we went
and ran up that trail,
and fell over and
slid back a lot,
and missed the sunset
but reached the top
and then falteringly
made our way down
in the dark.


And it turned into
a thing we did
that winter.

Not planned,
always at the last minute
when we bumped into
each other in town,
we'd say "I bet
we can make it up
______ mountain
and see the sunset
if we rush!
Let's go!"

And we'd get
partway up
and notice the sun
going down,
and head off-trail,
straight up the hillside,
punching holes in the
ice crust to keep
our hold,
and rushing, and slipping
and sending ice-chunks
zipping down behind us
and never make the top
in time
and laughing at each other
when we fell over
and over
on the way down.

We never, never
saw the sunset
from a peak,
but it was
such a good winter.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 22, 2014

Intellectual in a tea house in Northampton

Intellectual in a tea house
in Northampton,
reading Langston Hughes
and Diane Wakoski
paying too much
for tea
and a seat in the window
so all the holiday shoppers
can see how cool I am


-Jim DuBois
Nov 23, 2013

Like it Should be

Crunch, crunch, crunch,
the snow is crunchy,
like it should be in winter.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 18, 2013

I Can't Tell

I can't tell
if I'm depressed, or relaxed,
or on the verge of
an existential awakening,

but the sun and hats
are enjoyable
in the winter wind,

and the dry weeds
are rustling
beside the fence.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 19, 2013

Last Page Poem

First Love (running through the snow)

All we really had were those shining moments,
    sleeping together
        under the grey wings
            of winter,

Running through the snow
    beneath the sheltering sky
        between long dreams
            and desires for which we
                had no voice.


-Jim DuBois
Summer 1997

Stars, and Ice

Walking back through the front field at night,
after feeding the cats at the barn,
we used to lay down and stare up at the stars
and feel the enormousness of their distance
and what it would be like
to just keep falling
up into the sky.

Sometimes when we came back that way
in the winter,
the whole hill would be covered
with ice-encrusted snow
and we used to lay down on our bellies
and slide slowly
all the way down.


Jim DuBois
Jan 1, 2010

Looking for Something

I remember many years ago
when I was browsing
in the consignment shop
down on Pleasant street.

It was grey and snowing outside,
and inside, me, one other browser
and the guy at the register
were the only ones there.

The other browser was a skinny guy
looking for some cheap boots or something.
I wanted some cool cheap shirts, probably,
and the guy at the register kept looking boredly out the window.

Then this girl came in
and we all felt a little happier,
because we were lonely
and our only way out was through girls.

She knew the guy at the register
and they talked for a little bit
and me and the other guy had to listen
because it was otherwise quiet in there.

She said she was having a lazy day,
a relaxed, lazy, snowy day,
and she had spent the morning in bed
playing Nintendo with her boyfriend.

And to me, and undoutedly to the other lonely fellows,
it was like the god we had always wished for,
but never believed in,
had sent a divine being,
a kind of benevolent angel,
to let us know that
somewhere, someone was happy
and not lonely
and that even though such a divine entity
was always going to be out of our reach
and we'd probably have hard struggles
with our separate desperations,
we should not give up hope.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 1, 2010

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

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?

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

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

Transformations (Dec 15, 2008)

The wolf and the crow
    visited me one winter night,
    whispering,
            "Your true self is waiting,
             Your true self is waiting,"
and I snuck out
    into the cold and dark
where I ate wild grubs
    of the present moment
and foraged for bark
    from the tree of life
until my clothes turned
    brown and grey and green,
    the colors of the woodsfolk,
and I could run one hundred miles
    without stopping
and my wings finally regrew
    and I disappeared into the sky.


-Jim DuBois

Deer Antler (Dec 25th, 2005)

Wandering lazily
in the field by my parent's house,
I found a deer's antler
in the snow.

Half an hour later,
after a slow search,
as I composed in my head
a poem about how
what luck brings you
you can't seek deliberately,
I found another antler.

     - Jim