Five Poems from "The Old Monk Poems" by Tom Montag

from

"The Old Monk Poems"

 

It's the dull knife

that fools you,

the old monk says.

 

 

from

"The Old Monk Poems"

 

This is the way

you pray when you walk,

the old monk said.

 

It's different from

the way you pray

when you're falling.

 

 

from

"The Old Monk Poems"

 

Eavesdropping

is another way

to wisdom,

 

the old monk said,

but it's not as

reliable.

 

 

from

"The Old Monk Poems"

 

When it seems to be

going good,

check your tolerances,

the old monk told

the shop foreman.

 

 

from

"The Old Monk Poems"

 

I would

be a comedian,

the old monk said,

 

if I could

turn sideways.

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.