To name all the parts of a harness . . .
seems an unbearable task,

seems a forlorn mistaking
of proper work, seems like

a thing not worthy
of a woman or a poet,

for the naming is not
really important,

even the recognition
is not our main task,

but instead it is the notion,
the embrace of the thought,

how we all, each of us,
all of you, and every single

soul, and all the parts of a soul,
come to be matched with all

parts of the harness we hold clenched for
every day and every death in our very hands.

 

Artist's note:

Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) was a highly acclaimed American author, winner of both a Pulitzer and a National Book Award. She once wrote, "I was brought up with horses, I have harnessed, saddled, driven and ridden many a horse, but to this day I do not know the names for the different parts of a harness. I have often thought I would learn them and write them down in a note book. But to what end? I have two large cabinets full of notes already."
   
 

I must admit I'm enamored with the montage created between a poem based on an historical personage and the bio at the bottom of the poem. In Come to be Matched, I take interest in our adaptability to the earth.

I'm a 49 year old business executive with 1,500 people in the division reporting to me. I only mention this because in a sense the daimon that propels my occupation also propels my poetry. For instance, Gertrude Stein once said, "If Mr. Robert Frost is at all good as a poet, it is because he is a farmer -- really in his mind a farmer, I mean."

Am I a businessman who writes poetry, or a very minor poet successful at business? Who knows? But my daimon propelled me into such a good financial position that I could now quit my business dealings and comfortably write poetry the rest of my life . . . yet I am afraid to quit for fear my daimon will leave me, or my greed will taunt me for decades.

Formerly, I managed distribution centers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, Arizona and Illinois. My wife and I now live outside of Indianapolis and are currently toiling with much determination on our second crop of children, having adopted four wonderful girls and fostered several others.

Fairly new to publishing efforts -- this most challenging of all endeavors -- I have still been fortunate to enjoy some initial successes, and have published 374 pieces since late '96. Current successes are: being nominated for the 1999 Pushcart; completing an interview with Israeli poet Elisha Porat (1996 winner of the Prime Minister Prize for Literature); being accepted by Rattle for the second time; Sunstone, Porcupine Literary Magazine; the Ezines, The Rose & Thorn, Pif, 2River View, Oblique and Offcourse; and by print magazines Potpourri and Skylark -- each for the third time. Lastly, I was selected as the Featured Poet by the Ezine Seeker, and the Canadian Ezine, Pyrowords.

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