Max Reif Poems

What possessed us
to be so calm,
the frigid ocean below
about to take us in its jaws?
...

It's the promise of the sunrise, is it not,
that pulls us out of bed,
knowing a divine wave
has washed the world
...

A little while ago
I came down to the computer
in the early morning light,
strong as a lumberjack
...

It was easy to leave behind
my 'medical procedure'
and my daily life
and enter
...

I come here not for renewal
of my books, but of myself.

The library
...

the body
moving in space through time
(aging)
...

Ah, when I walk in my vision,
a solid world
materializes under my feet.
Words come unbidden
...

1. The Wrongful Death

I'm at the Hobart Law Firm
In downtown St. Louis.
...

1.
My poems have their moods.
Sometimes they feel shy,
tired of the scrutiny of eyes,
...

These herds
of words
need a shepherd —
...