ADAM DAVID MILLER
Adam David Miller Poet
P.O. Box 162
Berkeley, CA 94701-0162
eshuhous
Adam David Miller's Poetry
WHEN MY SISTER, WHEN
To Andrea Lewis and all the other black sisters dead when they reach their prime.
Mother, Mother, Mother,
There are too many of you crying
Sister, Sister, Sister
There are too many of you dying
We’ve got to find a way, yes
We’ve got to find a way
The roll call:
If I say Toni Cade
You say BAMBARA
I say Audre
You say LORDE
If I say Shirley Ann
You will say WILLIAMS
Babara
Christian
Octavia
Butler
My plumber Pauline Gordon
Bebe Moore
Campbell
Zelma Brown of My Sister, My Sister
You will add your own roll call
Sister, Sister, Sister
You the Striver, the Striver, bearer of the too heavy load,
The too heavy load
Did you wander too far from home?
Would you be Audre Lorde, our Sojourner,
who bared her breast, defiantly,
She bared it, Yes she did, so
Other women could be free from shame
Sister, Sister, Sister,
Did you discover the lonliness
Of the great?, that you might die alone?
We’ve got to find a way,
got to got to got t, find a Way
------------
One way I know, among the many, is to
Keep sending love out, so
Keep sending love out
To where the heart clutches and the soul sings
Where the heart clutches and the soul sings
Keep Sending love out
Send it into the lighted dark, over the fog swept sea
Send it where it may die a dusty death
Send it where there may not be an echo, no return
Send love, that drug of madness, the poet’s bane, some fool’s delight
Send it where there may not be an echo, no return
Send it where it has never been, a new address,
Keep sending, sending, sending….
The Heart
After the mind goes, the heart stays,
tracking treasures no thought can conjure.
The beat of feet, light to my door
will bring songs soon. I can hear them.
Cornucopia heart, empty out
high notes, falsetto or true,
so we can snatch love sounds
now. Do. While there is still time
within this hour to shout.
Adam David Miller, recently published in Poetalk, publication
of the Bay Area Poet Coalition, Winter-Spring 2009
The Bodysnatchers
Sitting on a quiet day
watching my shadow
as the sun passed over,
a tiny fleck flew out of it
growing ever larger.
Suddenly my shadow had become
that on a sidewalk at Hiroshima,
calling, "Why did you snatch my body? Why
did you steal what will be of no use to you?
We aren't the same size, didn't you know?"
The shadow and the sirens calling
and the fires continue to burn.
- Adam David Miller from Forever Afternoon
Balances, Balances
I work the garden,
in blue times it sustains me.
I dig around in it
seed, mulch, weed and reap
Always something that needs tending
If you don't spray, you've got to pick snails --
you can't train your dog to do it.
How to keep the delicate balances
nature's no static creature, nor I
I deposit my grievances and griefs
Some I turn into the earth
or puncture with my fork tines,
others the garden throws back
These I must bear
my share.
- by Adam David Miller from Land Between
Tell My Heart
Tell my heart
that promises are off,
vows are retracted,
leased love let loose,
tell it.
Tell my heart
it has no bond,
is no longer allied;
tell it
to stop its longing,
its yearning to hold,
be held, enfold.
Tell it
never again to slip earth's bounds
never again to soar.
You tell my heart,
You,
for I cannot.
- Adam David Miller from Land Between
Adam David Miller Poet
P.O. Box 162
Berkeley, CA 94701-0162
eshuhous
