It doesn’t matter what you chooseor how you frame it. In the endthey will still look at you funnyand after a sigh or two dismiss you. Shake their heads, one or two of them,and let you… Read More

Call her by name. She doesn’t answerfor more than a minute. You pretend to care a little because it matters a little. Outside, the world shattersmore than a little — youare… Read More

to add a new post here. I do the ones that go along with the poems, of course. That’s a given. And as such, it’s a pretty much reflexive process; it requires a little effort… Read More

I woke upand played Joni Mitchellon the radio, she sang “Summertime”with a cheering raft of friends. Then came the Dead and “ScarletBegonias” –50 years today… Read More

A true fan of rock and rollnever quits. They sleepfire and wake up smoldering.They know more about crunchythan soothing. They throw hornson their hands like they were born to it. They are… Read More

Laugh And Cry I’m laughing now. You didn’t know.I told you many times, you didn’t hear me —or more likely you didn’t listen. So I’m laughing nowas I… Read More

I don’t have anything much: a pack of smokes, a cupcake, half a Coke,a sheaf of half-finished poems. A limp legwith a delayed step and a stutter now andthen — more now than then… Read More

…there won’t be a post today. Hopefully tomorrow.onward,T Read More

Careless — I am carelesstoward the present. I preferthe past and its knowable quirks.I prefer the future and its quirkyunmapped uncertainty. What willhappen versus what did happen?Mean… Read More

It doesn’t require a title just yet. Doesn’t needa name. Inchoate and as yet lawless, good enoughfor understanding, knowing the fulness of itwaits to be seen, waits to be felt a… Read More

Two feet and my left handdestabilized — what of it? Not likeit ever did much, the left hand — andalways walking uphill, my two feet —except as adjuncts they were unnecessa… Read More

I’m really not doing well today; I’m having a rough day for dealing with various aspects of the “malady” (the strokes, which keep intruding without a good term). Som… Read More

Dark oatmeal, the color of the chairI sit in to begin the day. Fire leaves me breathless; water more soif I am immersed. Air is my element in the chair. The chair responds slightly to… Read More

Undated — a message floats in midairlike an idea whose time had or has not come.It waits to be posted, or it will be read afterwardas if it did not matter, not at all to anyone. No… Read More

Listening to music and thinking of dyingas an abstract. (You cannot know it, of course,until it happens and then you can’t tell anyonewhat it is like. You will be called an abstract… Read More

Dark wood — the coffee table.Thick, the grain hidden with black stainand the bark on the edges black-stainedas well — an uneven top all around althoughthe surface is slick as gla… Read More

Regarding the effort I’d like to taketo justify my obsession and pursue vindicationwith every single person I knew, I can’t: the explanation for taking such time is suspect on it… Read More

I am looking at first, Gaza and its abstraction; how everyonetries to shine as babies are deconstructedand blood pools in destroyed streets,on left-behind rags covered in curdled puddles… Read More

July 7, 2024: nothing to report. Sorry.onward,T Read More

It is time to saywhat must be said.Time to go. Time to golong, get gone, get moving.Time to spit all the clichesyou know because you arerestless and if you are goingyou need to speak it into… Read More

Suppose you take a momentout of your busy day and reflect,like a mirror, on your failingssince you fell victim to the CVA and were unable to tell the timeby ear or simple sense of gap bet… Read More

Six twelve AMand I’m feeling lowafter I wash the dishesand shrug. I have been upfor two hours and I shrug.What kind of energyshould I feel at six fourteen AMwith a stroke and lack of… Read More

You're currently a free subscriber. Upgrade your subscription to get access to the rest of this post and other paid-subscriber only content… Read More

I woke up sad. Felt useless, worn out —then I tuned my guitar-leleto an analogue of DADGAD,worn-out strings and alluntil it sounded somewherein the neighborhood of right and then I… Read More

Hi all — I haven’t worked out the details yet and will likely make up the rules as I go along, but I’d like to invite you all to join my email list. Admission is free… Read More

That is good coffee, I tell my cat. Shebarely cares, or soI think. Half-asleepand stiff staring at the screenas if to wonder why it mattersthis much how goodthe coffee is. It keep… Read More

It is not much — a shoelace’s distancein fascination; no distance at all,really. It is not enough to stave offthe deep funk of second sight, of wonderinghow much it will… Read More

There is a memory I don’t want to acceptfloating in the ether of my brainlike an island unattached to a land mass and I know someday it will find its fasteningbut for now I don’… Read More

If it’s not too much to asktake the burden awayand leave me with a lesser load,one that doesn’t break my backor bend me for all time,or even for a day. If it’s not too… Read More

I’m sorry. I haven’t been myself. InsteadI’ve been a rotted old chair. Halfsoft, half brittle, and ready to collapsethis side of the finish line. I’m sorry. I&rs… Read More

Four hits yesterday, three hits today.I have no confidence in my non-poetic work.thanks,T Read More

I am listening to old Americanaand I’m getting so sleepyI am letting the mice have their waywith the words and the imagesof them getting so smartthey think the words mean nothingThey w… Read More

I am not equipped for a new poem —not today; insteadI have prepared myselffor a lack of them entirely —a lack of new poems! Entirelyto be without thought and ultimately reaction… Read More

Brilliantly edited.The last gasp of a season of wonder. Gulp of air — a little leak, then nothing more.I look him fearlessly in one eye — right, then left. He is more like… Read More

I’m home.None of my furniture consoles me.I am alone in a house stuffed with it.None of it allows me to weep. I’m home.I keep my lids shuttered againstthe inadvertent blow aga… Read More

what was the rulethat kept him goinglong after wind had relentedlong after it stopped what was the time he ignored and decided not to reply between hours or minutes —seconds it too… Read More

I thank everyone for their time and attention to my poetry and our friendship. Unfortunately, I have decided to close my online writing practice for the moment. It takes a lot out of m… Read More

…set for tomorrow night at Arts In The Garden. Included two new pieces from the post stroke(s) work. Likely to be my last set for a while. Wish me…? T Read More

Will do more notes tomorrow…do come to my reading Thursday. Onward, T Read More

I lost a post this morning. It was a good one, full of wolves and a baby and it likely followed the river to where the baby would be slaughtered, but then a worm showed up and I was le… Read More

Spread your arms wide.Take it in, all of it. Open yourselfup to closing suddenly, even unexpectedly. Then remove the doubtyou came with — yes, even that doubt which kept youclosed… Read More

Until I start gearing up again it would be great to have a few more folks join the site.  Say, four?  http://patreon.com/TonyBrown Thanks Read More

Go now. Find your way pastedges and borders. Look intoliminal space for his preferred edges. Into his explosive space,his placement in it; was it centralto him, a fence post of his reas… Read More

Had a floorHad a wallWas quite ordinaryExtraordinary Had a floorRemarkable linoleumSupple and flexibleFloor of wonder and ordinariness Had a wallBuilt of swipes and tendernessWall of d… Read More

You're currently a free subscriber. Upgrade your subscription to get access to the rest of this post and other paid-subscriber only content… Read More

You're currently a free subscriber. Upgrade your subscription to get access to the rest of this post and other paid-subscriber only content… Read More

My buddy Freddyis an odd duck, or a weird bird, or perhapsan unusual animal: maybe it’s onefrom the past andfits his clothes?Some folks dress up like a bird here. They allact wei… Read More

Blond — a woman natch, turning heads,natch, as if there was something unnatural about it when she looked that damn good. A redheaded womanin black corsets. A brunette tearing apar… Read More

Will now the body downuntil it breaks orshatters with cosmic forceon the sidewalk. Hold the mind intact until it happens thenlet go the last participantuntil it is parked and perfe… Read More

Canary singsfrom the dark mineuntil the candle goes out. A robin singsfrom his perch, his bushuntil his light, his shine,ends. I go on and onchattering until I stop. ThenI start again… Read More

I throw my hands atthe boxing shade before me. If I were a rich manI’d hire a championas it’s too large a challenge,I tell myself.   I amfar from rich, like mostjust driftin… Read More

Whew. It’s been a whirlwind of a standstill this month. Feels like nothing is getting done and everything is perched,waiting to begin. On a prosaic level, that’s true. I’m… Read More

On the horse,a pair of lenses swollen to fit the nose.Handsome in silver. The frames slick with promisethat this attempt wouldn’t embarrass. I stood there embarrassed.I suddenly had sc… Read More

The nourishment of the illegals is at hand, the Karen Read trial proves it, you can hand feed the test feed of media bits and let it hang, you can dance as if it matters, you can hang your j… Read More

The status was no longereasy, a relaxed nervous pitch;an eventual result could befailure, could be catastrophe,could be nothing much at all. The status reached over the edge.No one coax… Read More

Observation: some of the writersare stuck in the wake of an eclipsethat was contested a week agoand moved on serene from the wreckageto today or nearby, calm as churchgoersin the leavings of… Read More

Say it all. Put a meaningon your sounds. Attachother words to new wordsand let them dangle and hang. Love and theft and mistaken urgeslike the longing for sense or the gaspof the delighted l… Read More

Why she fell to her knees andoffered whatever she wasto blue light in the cornerof the bedroom remainsunexplained This light around a ladycrouched on her familiar floorsuggested secrets… Read More

A long night is overand while there’s no dawn yetit’s clearly coming, There is always a dawn.Always have been dawns.Likely will be for seasons yet. You are an American.You get to… Read More

It’s like there are select insectswho know I’m decaying inside.One landed on my armand waited there on my skin for what seemed likea season. I felt a change in the weather.  … Read More

It is a measure of the fragility of my life that I am cut so deeply by each happening; every time I am compromised it is as if a window long ago paiinted shut has been thrown open into me an… Read More

Take the case of a bridge that breaks in a quite unexpected way.  The morning news shows it collapsing when struck by a ship.  We are told — and by “we” I mean th… Read More

In the paperworkthey called it a “CVA”A “cerebral vascular accident” On the street they call it a “stroke”Like a sky-sent bolt ora smoothing hand on… Read More

I have been in the hospital after a stroke.  Back soon Read More

Taking a walk around the neighborhood,I see an older fellow wiping blood from the arms and seats of his lawn chairs. I slow down to watch, express my dismayand concern.  “Oh… Read More

Today is forthe streams of “if only — “ if only the front roomwas lush with palmetto, if only the sinkwas not full of sharks, if only you’d grown upon… Read More

What metaldid you sleep uponlast nightthat conducted such dreamsand from what source? You stirred with every spark that stuck youin the dark; suns and their entire system… Read More

I wear about a quarterof my father’s face in mine, though my dad used to look at me and saymy mother would never die until I was gone. I can see themboth when I look closely at a mirro… Read More

I’m very aware of a break in my usual flow of writing lately. I’m dealing with a couple of serious health issues which are affecting my ability to do my job and to write, still t… Read More

Calico coilcentered onthe living room rug springs up to nestlenear me on the couchas I weep and try to write.  All is right with that; I try not to think about her, take less… Read More

Ocean in view ahead (and in time within) that resets all with every wave breaking,changing not just the landbut this man standing on the land watching, feeling the shift underfoot;… Read More

It does not matterwhere you find yourself. End of a cul-de-sac. On the median stripof the road to safety. Alone on a trail through woods you do not recognize. It does not matterwhether… Read More

Come from the highwayup Millbury Street toward home on a day that feels likethe end of a world in the after-rain sunset.On the sidewalk is the woman I’m sure a sitcom would name … Read More

You have become so timidabout how things are in your world,  keeping to your grimy cocooneven when it is touched by something liable to break itor tear into it before you are ready. You… Read More

Weis one of those wordseveryone kissesbut no one loves. Theyis said feverishly,furtively, side-eye giventoward its target. Iexalts and wallowsat once, misery grounding satiety. Usm… Read More

Check it out…live poetry! Read More

Stunning how the microplasticscatch the light as they float in this glass of water that I just took from the faucet, how they spin in suspension.I may yet drink it anyway.It seems that I hav… Read More

Twice nowI’ve seen an eagleflying over the highwaynorth of the city. Once when I was northbound,its white head clear as day;once when I was southbound,its flight distinctive as its col… Read More

If you have wordsto bind your pain, bind it and put it to one side.  Steparound it, walk away, don’t look back. You willcome back to it, of course.One day it will r… Read More

…but I am forgetting my manners —how are you, how are you,and how are you? So good to see you here, to see youanywhere, in fact. I’d heardthings and althoughI know be… Read More

Held in the feeling of always walking down hill,even when climbing stairs. Sensing animals hurtling by, barely inin the edge of sight; unfamiliar creatures — sentient, w… Read More

Did you think it could go on forever, this whole art thing, this creativity at all costs, this longing for words to improve the atmosphere, this lust for rhythm in the tongue, this leapfrogg… Read More

I’m walking into the house after workand by chance I look to the left toward the patch belowour front room windows,towardthe black-mulched front yard pitted all overfrom squirrels and… Read More

Country anthem, blues medallion,banners of dance and punk and metal;slap a label on your tribeand see if it gets larger.  Eat your feelings, drink your anger,parade collective sorrow;bu… Read More

A morning as cold as hell is hot;I’m ready to go North from here. The old folks used to saya dying soul went south;what does that mean whenI’m already South?Heading int… Read More

Daylight comes upover a landscapeof sheets and pillowsand clothing folded neatly last night to waituntil this morningto be tucked away.  You rememberhow long ago you saw mountainsthat a… Read More

and it’s time to fade away from it.Time to stand and soar into the sky-past.Knowing when to go is half the challenge. The other halfis going. Taking flight. It’s ok, you tell… Read More

Here’s a video of me doing up one of my recent prose poems.   I hope you enjoy it Read More

Redemption is a fickle beast; chooses its own schedule. It’s an animal hiding in a hollow log, or behind a 55 gallon drum rusting in the woods behind your home.  You know it&rsquo… Read More

It is beyondmy power to controlanything that’s about to happen.  Beyond my powerto affect the weather.Beyond any powerI could borrow or buy. Close to powerlessin a powerful w… Read More

In imaginingmy next life I cannot escapewhat came before;  in arguing on behalf of deviance from my prescribed path I cannot speak of futurewithout exhaling past; I drag my faults… Read More

“It’s too late, she’s gone.”   I watch an old clip on YouTube. Clapton without Duane on the Johnny Cash Show, country-blues riff on Brownie the legendary Stratoc… Read More

I look outsideon a frigid nightat a jagged landscape clinging to the running boards of SUVs and trucks,my own station wagon, the old car in front ofthe triple decker across th… Read More

Well, I’m here — who have expected that I would have made it to Heaven?  Here I am, though. And it’s just as it’s been described. Clouds, pink light, music from… Read More

startled bywhat’s come into viewsprouting from the roadin front of me it doesn’t make sensebut I surely drove through ita curtain in the roada rainbow sheet uprisen from wet-blac… Read More

In awe of the simple brutalityof aging: not that it’s without beauty, or that joy is notpresent, even in the moment when you knowyour true age at last and it’s exactly rightas it… Read More

Now and thenthere is a moment markedby a single tickfrom an old schoolroom clock that hangs on the basement wall;relic taken from a modernizing classroom,covered in plain dust and no sm… Read More

My 2023 anthology, “Handwriting Practice,” is now available to my paid members on Patreon.  It will be available to the public in a month or two.   Read More

The floor is always lava.  My feet are always burning. No one ever knows what’s happening. No one else feels the heated floor, the measured melting steps I have to take. I’… Read More

I finished my term today and when I stepped out the door afterward I looked up at the sky and thought about that being a form of graduation.  Reflected on what I’d learned.  … Read More