Mike Finley Poems

Let a thing be what we say it is,
if a donkey is eating corn
let the donkey not be an allegory
nor the corn a corn byproduct.
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i hear the chime of the poem's voice
and in the notes you write
a guy who hungers for truth and tells it too
who understands that pain is the face
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1. Stop talking and listen. Listen to yourself listening. Then listen to that.

2. Pile all your hats in the back yard and burn them. Especially any with feathers.
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You were innocent, you shared
The prejudices that connected us
Like prayer, and the world held firm
Behind its insipid certainties.
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You are the winking stream,
We are all hiccup and failure.

You are love, a perfect dream.
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The sugar house is shutting down,
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You told yourself you could do this without them
If you had their help it would undo the purpose
Recused yourself from the argument at hand
And folded into quietness there
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How confusing it all is.
'Humility' suggests crouching.
But what it means is relaxing,
Allowing happiness to happen.
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Where I am going, I don't know
The road ahead twists out of sight

Where it will lead no one can say
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Is in the breath so simple.
Breathe in, breathe out,
Then tell where one begins
And the other ends.
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