Category Archives: The Wind

When A Southwest Wind Stirs Magnolia Petals

Posted on Saturday, May 26th, 2018 11:39 am by John MacKenzie

So. We never did walk together in A cool May’s sweet and inky scent Whispering from white blossoms And now under Iowa soil you have Neither voice nor thought. You have no Knowledge of how spring pulls all This colour … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Art is lies, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, Magnolias, Memory, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Sonnet, Spring, The Brain, The Wind | Leave a comment

Consider That I Am Mistaken

Posted on Sunday, February 4th, 2018 11:39 am by John MacKenzie

I’m sure there is someone I almost remember Who may have once told me they’d never forget The blue of my eyes in mid-winter sunlight When the geese were long gone and the gulls alone Might be heard over the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Consciousness, Gulls, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, Lindens, Memory, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Sonnet, The Sea, The Sky, The Wind, Wild Geese | Leave a comment

A Light Wind Whispering

Posted on Monday, August 21st, 2017 11:39 am by John MacKenzie

The August marshes matted by blue herons Passing from slow channel to slow channel In daily pursuit of the tides’ swell and decline Are scrawled between fields and the sea Cattails are thin pencil strokes slanting now In a light … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Art is lies, Blue Heron, Cattails, Crows, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, Lindens, Marsh, Memory, Poem tweets, Poetry, The Marsh, The Rain, The Sea, The Wind, Tide, Time | Leave a comment

Looking Towards the Gulf at Evening

Posted on Sunday, July 30th, 2017 6:58 pm by John MacKenzie

The wind is from the northeast this early Evening and not as sharp as it often is, Having worn out for now its cold Chisels of water and sand sculpting All day, as it has every day For millennia, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, Geology, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, New poems, North Shore, Poem tweets, Poetry, Rodin, Science, Sonnet, The Earth, The Sea, The Wind, Tide, Time | Leave a comment

The Stars Turn in Silence

Posted on Thursday, July 20th, 2017 11:39 am by John MacKenzie

Most nights when you are not here I open my window and listen To how the wind moves in the trees Like your breath quick in my ears. No wind tonight since sunset. The stars, Restless as always, turn in … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, The Sky, The Wind | Leave a comment

Ocean Sounds in the Distance

Posted on Tuesday, June 27th, 2017 4:13 pm by John MacKenzie

You’ll find, if you sit under lilacs And watch the people pass by, The wind will bring you their murmurs As sibilant and seemingly sensical As the ocean sounds in the distance Responding to gravity’s mumbled Recitations of the numbers … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, Astrophysics, Biology, Charlottetown, Cosmology, Epistemology, Evolution, Gravity, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, Lilacs, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Science, The Brain, The Earth, The Sea, The Wind, Tide, Time | Leave a comment

Looking West Across the Marsh, Late Afternoon

Posted on Thursday, June 22nd, 2017 10:12 am by John MacKenzie

The herons are preliminary Scrawls, penciled faint against the sky, Most with their bodies tilted at forty-five Degrees to the imaginary Horizon at the vanishing point, Gliding in on barely discernible arcs; Two are turning and curling their wings In … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Art is lies, Astrophysics, Blue Heron, Cattails, Cliches, Cosmology, Death, Epistemology, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, The Sea, The Sky, The Wind | Leave a comment

In the Spring Ditches

Posted on Sunday, April 3rd, 2016 11:39 am by John MacKenzie

And now springtime comes Casting its green illusions As the south wind gasps The pussy willows waver In damn ditches already

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, Micropoetry, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Pussy Willows, Spring, Tanka, The Wind, Time | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

While the Wind Tangles Your Hair

Posted on Monday, March 14th, 2016 3:07 pm by John MacKenzie

I want to sit with you in the shade While the wind tangles your hair Listening to you talk of things that exist Listening to you talk about the spectrum The spectrum on which things are portrayed The arbitrary nature … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, Consciousness, Cosmology, Couplets, Epistemology, John MacKenzie, John MacKenzie Poetry, New poems, Physics, Poem tweets, Poetry, Science, The Brain, The Rain, The Sky, The Wind, Time | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Face of Allah

Posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2015 11:49 am by John MacKenzie

I could not find the face of Allah In the debris of mountain slides, In blue fragments of mosaics, In the desolation of stars fallen behind The ground-down blade of the moon. I heard rumours he spoke in many voices … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Atheism, Cosmology, Death, Desperation, Fanaticism, Islam, John MacKenzie, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Religion, Social Commentary, The Earth, The Moon, The Sea, The Sky, The Wind | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In Paris. The Portraits

Posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2015 12:18 pm by John MacKenzie

I actually took a commission yesterday to write a poem for the birthday of a friend of a friend. It was a fun and interesting exercise. I worked mostly from a list sent to me of associations and interests of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, Cliches, Commissions, Creativity, John MacKenzie, Mythology, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Process, Summer, The Moon, The Sea, The Wind, Tide, Time, Venus | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Restless Particles (a Hallowe’en sestina variation)

Posted on Sunday, October 19th, 2014 3:42 pm by John MacKenzie

Near the bottom of the street a crow’s nest rests high in a linden. A loose stick tap- tap-taps in the wind that oboes its moan through October evening eaves. That wind wept rain all day into the nest and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Autumn, Crows, Death, Epistemology, John MacKenzie, Lindens, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Sestina, The Rain, The Wind, Time, Tropes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

So Long

Posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2014 5:16 pm by John MacKenzie

Today the gulls have come down out of the north wind and sit restlessly on the water in the lee of the city. Are you listening to them, their sea of melancholy voices as monotonous as the waves? Why does … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Charlottetown, Gulls, Harbour, John MacKenzie, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Sonnet, The Sea, The Sky, The Wind, Time, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Connaught Square

Posted on Sunday, September 21st, 2014 11:21 am by John MacKenzie

Who mourns these elms, diseased, inconsolate, their long, undulant limbs dropping leaves earlier each year, small disasters splitting the rough bark of lesser branches, peeling it away from the tips down, little by little, while the wood begins to silver … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Autumn, Charlottetown, Dutch elm disease, Elms, John MacKenzie, Language, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Social Commentary, Sonnet, Spring, The Rain, The Wind, Time, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Amongst the Green

Posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2014 2:36 pm by John MacKenzie

Andrew Mitrovica has a great piece at ipolitics about Stephen Harper and his policies. Here’s the beginning: “Before last week, I thought I understood the depth of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s malevolence. I was wrong. Only now do I appreciate … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Death, Hunger, John MacKenzie, Malnutrition, Micropoetry, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Poverty, Social Commentary, Tanka, The Earth, The Wind, War, War poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Self-Portrait of a Blind Man at Evening

Posted on Saturday, September 6th, 2014 11:39 am by John MacKenzie

  Self-Portrait of a Blind Man at Evening Maybe you’ve seen him by the harbour in the south wind, listening, trying to hear over waves the distant fugue whale pods still continually compose off Chile in groans of carbon compressing … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, Autumn, Blue Heron, Charlottetown, Crows, Geology, Gravity, Harbour, John MacKenzie, New poems, Pablo Neruda, Poem tweets, Poetry, The Moon, The Sea, The Sky, The Wind, Whales, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Language is Hollow

Posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2014 3:13 pm by John MacKenzie

It was mentioned to me yesterday that I haven’t been writing much. So I wrote. Language is Hollow for Megan Burke My language is grim because I was born in mid-century shadows cast by mushroom clouds, eyes narrowed against brightness … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, Charlottetown, Epistemology, Gulls, Harbour, Hunger, John MacKenzie, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetics, Poetry, Poverty, Science, Social Commentary, The Earth, The Sea, The Sky, The Wind | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Darkness Settles Early

Posted on Monday, August 25th, 2014 9:19 pm by John MacKenzie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znHZVc1fns0 Darkness Settles Early The end of August. The turning wind edges north. Though darkness settles Early now, the evening crows Find their way home. Where are you?* *Tankas really are country songs.

Posted in Art is lies, Art is theft, Autumn, Country music, Crows, John MacKenzie, Mary Gauthier, Micropoetry, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Tanka, The Wind, Time | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

After a Hurricane

Posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2014 6:22 pm by John MacKenzie

The tide green and full in the harbour, the contrary remaining winds stipple the taut swell like skin after a shiver. More rain and lightning in the forecast; the clouds still thick and dark in the west with a chance … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Consciousness, Epistemology, Harbour, John MacKenzie, Memory, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Sonnet, Summer, The Brain, The Moon, The Rain, The Sea, The Sky, The Wind | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Between the Lines

Posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014 9:01 pm by John MacKenzie

The crows are constant scrawls There above fields of dandelions Pushing up, yellow, indecipherable, Swaying in the wind of starlings’ wings. Sometimes at evening a raven calls At the edge of the bonefield sky Eroding till the first quarter of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art is lies, Astrophysics, Chemistry, Cosmology, Crows, Epistemology, John MacKenzie, New poems, Poem tweets, Poetry, Quatrains, Ravens, Science, Space, The Moon, The Sea, The Sky, The Wind | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment