All articles filed in James A. Emanuel

False Notions, Fears, And Other Things Of Wood  Repeatedly, that sturdy stump in mebears up like stone,beneath some ritual I see:the blinding axeswings up, holds,that moment of its weightlessnessinscrutabletill I confirm the arm is mine;I will it, grip,feel moist the swelling handle,the shudder rude,the difference fallen. Toward that chopping blockI carry in me woodthings—infectious undergrowthpretending…

A Fool For Evergreen A little bit of fool in meHides behind my inmost treeAnd pops into the narrow pathI walk blindfolded by my wrathOr shrunken by some twist of pain,Some hope that will not wind again.He ogles with his antic eyesand somersaults a you’re-not-wiseUntil the patches in his pantsGo colorwheeling through my glanceSo fast…

Poet As Fisherman I fish for words to say what I fish for, half-catch sometimes. I have caught little pan fish flashing sunlight (yellow perch, crappies, blue-gills), lighthearted reeled them in, filed them on stringers on the shore. A nice mess, we called them, and ate with our fingers, laughing. Once, dreaming of fish in…