Five Poems by Tom Montag

 

from

"The Old Monk Poems"

 

Where the light touches

the shadows know

 

nothing of sadness,

the old monk said.

 

 

Where do and

don't are

kissing cousins

 

you might see

some sinning,

the old monk says.

 

If you're talking

to the stars

 

during the Perseids,

you always get

 

faster answers,

the old monk says.

 

 

How many opposites are there?

Half as many as there are things,

the old monk said.

 

 

What happens in Las Vegas

stays in Las Vegas,

the old monk said.

 

What happens on the mountain

gets to town fast.

Tom Montag's books of poetry include: Making Hay & Other Poems; Middle Ground; The Big Book of Ben Zen; In This Place: Selected Poems 1982-2013; This Wrecked World; The Miles No One Wants; Imagination's Place; Love Poems; and Seventy at Seventy. His poem 'Lecturing My Daughter in Her First Fall Rain' has been permanently incorporated into the design of the Milwaukee Convention Center. He blogs at The Middlewesterner. With David Graham he recently co-edited Local News: Poetry About Small Towns.

The poems are selections from his on-going series "The Old Monk Poems." None of these poems has been previously published and they are not being considered elsewhere.

 

Please note that all of the poems are untitled.