https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/section-378-the-personal-space-of-norman-milliken en 2005-2012 shakespearesmonekys@gmail.com 42.65593 -71.33391 Mon, 08 Jun 2026 22:36:42 GMT yacs http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 70 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4782-for-sara-k. https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4782-for-sara-k. for Sara K. we lay wrapped in each other, above the city, above the ocean. beyond the rest of our lives. oh, you captured me. I was so young and your face and your hair and your hands came from nowhere, unsuspecting, and carried me off in our room. loved me across the mornings. “you shake me into the world,” you said to me, afterwards, when we were quiet.       I remember perfectly       the street, the city       the smell of the ocean.       after all those years       I am still caught       unawares when you cross my heart       as I sleep. ... more norm Poetry Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:01:14 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 2 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4782 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4782 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4782 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12536-i-imagine-you https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12536-i-imagine-you     I imagine you pulling polished blades, fulcrumed in oarlocks smooth-silent, that lift and drop and cut moon-ivory water. your breath rhythms to splash-slip soundless seas, unknowns breaking surface, iridescent arcs of soar and shimmer foreign in this air beautiful in this air and you pull ever outward, everlasting wrapping you ‘round shoulders, back to front, the way ahead unseen. norm milliken The Personal Space of Norman Milliken Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:51:06 GMT /section-378-the-personal-space-of-norman-milliken#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12536 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12536 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12536 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12535-untitled https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12535-untitled   words rush up in night’s safe harbor   bang me hard against piers   pull me seaward and strain moorings norm milliken The Personal Space of Norman Milliken Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:48:45 GMT /section-378-the-personal-space-of-norman-milliken#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12535 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12535 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12535 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12352-arrival https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12352-arrival                                               April is a word                       unknown to buds                       and brambles. spring’s green breeze spring’s green breeze brings red-wing blackbirds to weather-dull hickory fence posts lining country roads, and mud-after-rain shimmers under blue, blue sky. ... more norm milliken Poetry Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:34:46 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12352 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12352 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12352 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12351-i-imagine-you https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12351-i-imagine-you pulling polished blades, fulcrumed in oarlocks smooth-silent, that lift and drop and cut moon-ivory water. your breath rhythms to splash-slip soundless seas, unknowns breaking surface, iridescent arcs of soar and shimmer foreign in this air beautiful in this air and you pull ever outward, everlasting wrapping you ‘round shoulders, back to front, the way ahead unseen. norm milliken Poetry Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:26:56 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12351 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12351 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12351 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12028-the-edge-of-things https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-12028-the-edge-of-things the edge of things   comes as a surprise that warps through the days and hides in ambush along the ridge lines of dreams,   stumbled into in a careless moment, a sudden wind of unfoldings.   the edge of things shimmers in the mind like the thrill   of falling to your death. ... more norm milliken Poetry Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:05:01 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 2 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/12028 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/12028 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A12028 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9052-sometimes-words-are https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9052-sometimes-words-are sometimes words are not enough, all there are, all you need, more than you have spilling like water, filling every space, filling every space, even space so small that whole words won't fit, but they fit, and they crowd in one upon the other, words from everywhere, words spelled and said and wished and thought, words flying from mothers at children, from the lost to God, words in love in lovers lost in desire, yes, even those wordless words. and last words, lost words, mumbled across death, errant words like Thoreau's "moose, Indian" and sometimes, it is said, amen ... more norm Poetry Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:11:03 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 1 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9052 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9052 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9052 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-8735-love-pens-itself https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-8735-love-pens-itself love pens itself love pens itself in winter words of silver moon and silver light, when lips find lips when hands embrace and lovers lie warm skin to skin warm face to face. beneath love's blanket of desire the body's verse writes o'er itself in wind-washed snow, in star-lost sight and lovers lie in present tense like secrets in the night. love pens itself as winter moves the water under ice, and ‘he' and ‘she' speak quietly of fields and frost in willow trees and lovers lie warm sleep to sleep and sail on winter seas, and lovers lie warm dream to dream and sail on winter seas. ... more norm Poetry Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:10:01 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 6 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/8735 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/8735 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A8735 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11122-i-imagine-you https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-11122-i-imagine-you I imagine you   pulling polished blades, fulcrumed in oarlocks smooth-silent, that lift and drop and cut moon-ivory water.   your breath rhythms to splash-slip soundless seas, unknowns breaking surface,   iridescent arcs of soar and shimmer foreign in this air beautiful in this air   and you pull ever ... more norm milliken Poetry Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:41:34 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/11122 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/11122 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A11122 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10714-words-rush-up https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10714-words-rush-up   words rush up in night’s safe harbor   bang me hard against piers   pull me seaward and strain moorings norm milliken Poetry Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:23:51 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10714 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10714 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10714 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10712-airlift https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10712-airlift airlift   the heavy drone of machine movement caught us coming or going,   put us out in night alone.   I took up exercises of the past, thinking through the days   never knowing or believing, just bangbangbang of gears, a kind of falling apart sound, loose as us.   ... more norm milliken Poetry Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:22:02 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10712 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10712 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10712 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10299-noel https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10299-noel noel I should write of snow and winding valleys, roads to reunions and pleasures hidden until dawn. instead I wander through dreams that once wandered through me. there was the sled I wanted so, and the little rifle that never shot pellets. I had a cowboy hat, though. I was a cowboy once.   I should write of covenants and feasts, lights and singing. midnights. yet one year I knew how to be a cowboy with just a hat. ... more milliken norman Poetry Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:08:51 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 2 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10299 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10299 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10299 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10285-bedside-manners https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-10285-bedside-manners bedside manners hours wait and bend the day while blood is drawn and x-rays read. patients drift from sleep to pain to sleep again as bedside-weary prayers simplify.        “some jello         or crackers.         anything without the nausea.” and heart monitor spikes sinus peaks green above the bed.     milliken norman Poetry Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:15:11 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/10285 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/10285 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A10285 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4733-ch-47-chinook-crashes-in-rescue-attempt.-sixteen-die. https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-4733-ch-47-chinook-crashes-in-rescue-attempt.-sixteen-die. CH-47 Chinook crashes in rescue attempt. sixteen die. memory sleeps beneath time’s blanket, closes its eyes, and disappears in dream. life is leveled, edges beveled smooth and regular. days pass. thirty-seven years later a helicopter is shot down in Afghanistan. men are lost and fear chokes me again, high above hills and jungle, taking fire from below, a Chinook just like theirs, frantic to fly away. norm The Personal Space of Norman Milliken Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-378-the-personal-space-of-norman-milliken#comments 5 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/4733 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/4733 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A4733 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9974-on-poetry https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9974-on-poetry on poetry   I imagine you pulling polished blades that lift and drop and cut moon-ivory water,   while fulcrumed in oarlocks smooth and silent, your breath rhythms to oar splash slipping soundless seas.   unknowns break surface,   iridescent arcs of soar and shimmer- foreign in this air- beautiful in this air, ... more norm Poetry Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:03:28 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9974 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9974 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9974 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9329-we-wait https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9329-we-wait   we wait patient empty vessels in flat water sometimes slipping anchor floundering sail less in headwinds and strange seas norm Poetry Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:50:31 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 2 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9329 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9329 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9329 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9328-before-he-was-fifty-six https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9328-before-he-was-fifty-six     before he was fifty-six and old with cancer and life, my father framed himself in my memory. musky goldenrod and autumn cold clung to his Woolrich hunting coat, came through the house and stayed long enough to never forget me. norm Poetry Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:29:45 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 4 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9328 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9328 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9328 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9318-untitled-poem https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9318-untitled-poem     words rush up in night’s safe harbor bang me hard against piers pull me seaward and strain moorings norm Poetry Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:55:14 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 2 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9318 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9318 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9318 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9221-running-with-my-son https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9221-running-with-my-son (it was 10 degrees when we started. in the hemlock shade, the only sound was that of our breathing) norm Poetry Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:27:19 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9221 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9221 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9221 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9187-3-haiku https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-9187-3-haiku April rain morning sends bird to bush’s shelter- window-cat chatter! when children leave home snowfall and midnight drift in on quiet footsteps dust and afternoon paint horses’ flanks with summer’s heavy, August light   norm Poetry Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:12:41 GMT /section-379-poetry#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/9187 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/9187 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A9187