Joanne Kyger Poems

'The best thing about the past

is that it's over'
...

You know when you write poetry you find
the architecture of your lineage your teachers
like Robert Duncan for me gave me some glue for the heart
Beats which gave confidence
...

Your heart is fine feeling the widest
possible empathy for the day and its inhabitants
...

Into the party, with engraved invitations, I am bored when
I realize the champagne in the decrepit bowl is going to get
filled up a lot. Well then, on the greens in front of the
Mansion are walking Tom Clark and Ted Berrigan, what chums!
...

Morning is such a welcome time. It doesn't demand
much from the pocket- Some coffee, a cigarette,
and the day starts, full of optimism & clarity of hope
While the Muse holds her head, and the crazy Elementals
...

I reject as absolutely false all opinion in which I have the least doubt.
As our senses often deceive us I assume they show us illusion, and must
reject them. As reason is subject to error, and who can offer more living
proof of that than I, I must reject the faculty or reason.
...

In a room getting ready for a party
with Dotty,
Ducan MacNaughton comes in and says
'Stephen Rodefer is on his way here to kill you!
...

The grasses are light brown
and ocean comes in
long shimmering lines
under the fleet from last night
...

I saw the
dead bird on the sidewalk
his neck uncovered
and prehistoric
...

In Tamalpais is a big crystal. An acquaintance told
me the story. A Miwok was giving his grandfather’s medicine
bag to the Kroeber Museum in Berkeley. He said this man
took him over the mountain Tamalpais, at a certain time
...