Author: Tom D'Evelyn

Tom D'Evelyn is a private editor and writing tutor in Portland OR and, thanks to the web, across the US and in the UK. He can be reached at tom.develyn@comcast.net. D'Evelyn has a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley. Before retiring he held positions at The Christian Science Monitor, Harvard University Press, Boston University and Brown University. He ran a literary agency for ten years, publishing books by Leonard Nathan and Arthur Quinn, among others. Before moving to Portland OR he was managing editor at Single Island Press, Portsmouth NH. He blogs at http://tdevelyn.com and other sites.

Tradition

Can it be a po-
em if it just remembers
other bits of verse

so they shine like tes-
serae on the floor of a
disused cathedral?

One by one they sur-
vive polished by the feet of
pilgrims and tourists,

a few worshippers;
once a week washed by an old
blind woman in black.

Ruin

When all is said and
done, if there be any praise,
let it be mindful.

No god intervened
to ruin your sex life, or
the final sip of

wine before you lost
all taste for wine. No god kept
good happenings from

happening. It seems
the gods’ sole purpose is to
let patience fulfill

your wildest dreams. Praise
the gods of your creation
as you slip away.

Sabbath

A mackerel sky,
the play of wind and waves white
in the bay, the bells

of Trinity peal-
ing the hour: I find a bench.
Sabbath is a gift

I can’t refuse. Gulls
wheel and squeal overhead, my
idiot laughter.

Tears

Inconsolable
the tears of the child, of the
lover, of the old

man, of all things—-lac-
remae rerum, as these tears
swell from unknown depths.

They leave you heaving
at the edge of nothingness.
In empty silence

early birds wake and
their thin songs are answers to
the habit of prayer.

Rain

Passerby, armed with
umbrella and fashionable
tote underarm, I

salute as you step
neatly between black puddles
and make your way. This

‘other inexhaus-
tible infinite in fin-
itude itself’—-or-

dinary my lit-
urgy, may you be safe; your
moment makes my day.

Logos

You can count on it.
Our senses go from counting
down the time it takes

to wake into the
world, to the strange beauty of
each thing in its fall-

ing away. Yes you
can count on wonder to stay
with you as you let

it all go. Wonder
words the infinite excess
of everything else.