{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Poetry by me on jabel", "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2021/97100.jpg", "home_page_url": "https://jabel.blog/", "feed_url": "https://jabel.blog/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/05/28/unfolding.html", "title": "Unfolding", "content_html": "

I write to you from within a constrained world.
\nCaring for my elderly, injured mother,
\nthinking only of the next task,
\nI make phone calls
\nand listen for her stirring in the night.
\n
\nWhat do I have to do with the world
\nof presidents and wars?
\nI dimly recall the Strait of Hormuz
\nas I fill my gas tank and worry
\nabout Medicare coverage.
\n
\nThere was a spot on Stumphole Bridge Road
\nwhere long ago (last week?)
\nthe world opened up.
\nWide farmland stretching up to misted hills,
\nfolding and folding and folding into the horizon.
\n
\nI am the cosmos unfolding
\nalong purposeful, hidden paths.
\nIt is my small, bright secret.
\nLike the woman and her coin,
\nI sometimes lose track of it.
\n
\nI’ve swept the floor and lit a lamp.
\nI’ve just caught a glimmer
\nin the corner of my eye.

\n", "date_published": "2026-05-28T07:47:25-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/05/28/unfolding.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/05/06/rare-earth.html", "title": "Rare earth", "content_html": "

I continue to come across some old drafts as I clean out my Dropbox. Here is a poem that I can’t date exactly–maybe a couple of years ago?

\n

I listened to a podcast today
\nabout rare earth minerals.
\nIt didn’t help my mood.
\nAs the rage built inside me,
\nI imagined writing a poetic diatribe.
\n
\nBut I’m tired.
\nAnd my tooth hurts.
\nAnd I’m just so sad about everything.
\n
\nWhat good would it do,
\nartfully arranging words while
\nthe earth is cracked open
\nand the bodies of the poor are broken
\nand we here in America await news
\nof the next goddamn iPhone?
\n
\nGod damn the iPhone.
\nGod damn the killing technology.
\nGod damn me and you,
\nplaying games and scrolling scrolling scrolling
\non devices scratched from the bones of our
\nrare earth.

\n", "date_published": "2026-05-06T15:49:25-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/05/06/rare-earth.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2026/05/04/im-moving-stuff-out-of.html", "content_html": "

I’m moving stuff out of Dropbox so I can stop paying for it. I found this in a drafts folder but I have no memory of it. So I post it here, contextless.

\n

Time is a stalking beast,
\nWatching, waiting to bring you down.
\nBut we are distracted,
\nUnconscious of the danger.

\n", "date_published": "2026-05-04T19:39:05-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2026/05/04/im-moving-stuff-out-of.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/29/a-nightly-benediction.html", "title": "A nightly benediction", "content_html": "

Growing up, I watched my dad check the door locks every night–and I picked up the habit from him. I’m probably worse than him, actually. I have my theories about why we each acquired this compulsion, which I won’t get into here. And though I don’t know where the clinically compulsive line is, I’m probably too close to it.

\n

Besides, it sucks as a nightly ritual. This morning it occurred to me that this whole thing needs a reframing. Beginning tonight when I check the doors, I’m going to move away from that mild anxiety toward a nightly blessing. A far better way to end the day.

\n

Bless this house,
\nBless these doors,
\nBlessed are those
\nwho walk these floors.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-29T09:38:37-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/29/a-nightly-benediction.html", "tags": ["Memories","Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/12/24/the-joy-of-being-a.html", "title": "The Joy of Being a Heat-Generating Body", "content_html": "

Shard of the sun
\nspalled into space,
\nhidden in bodies
\nin far-distant days.
\n
\nIn jubilant work,
\nwe spend our new heat,
\ncontinuing creation.
\nThe task is complete.
\n
\nThe fire within
\ncools to a cinder.
\nOther warm bodies
\nbecome the new tinder.
\n
\nThe cycle renewed,
\nthe new morning dawns.
\nHeat calls to heat:
\nour body responds.

\n", "date_published": "2025-12-24T11:56:49-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/12/24/the-joy-of-being-a.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/05/in-memory-of-my-dad.html", "title": "In memory of my dad", "content_html": "

My father and I, we check the locks–
\nthat’s what the Abels do.
\nNeurosis passed along the line
\njust like his Craftsman tools.
\n
\nI see him there, on his rounds,
\nnocturnal sealing rite.
\nHere I am, securing doors
\nagainst encroaching night.
\n
\nThere was a time when I asked
\nwhat does this signify?
\nNow we double check the doors
\nand do not worry why.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-05T13:34:01-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/05/in-memory-of-my-dad.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/03/01/the-proud-tongue-is-tied.html", "content_html": "

The proud tongue is tied in prayer.
\nThe parched tongue is quenched in prayer.
\nThe prayerful tongue is loosed—
\n      occasionally, mysteriously—
\n      in co-creation.

\n", "date_published": "2025-03-01T14:21:06-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/03/01/the-proud-tongue-is-tied.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2025/01/31/enveloping-mist-bare-trees-bloom.html", "content_html": "

Enveloping mist.
\nBare trees bloom from the chill gray,
\nLonely shapes in black.

\n", "date_published": "2025-01-31T09:20:54-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2025/01/31/enveloping-mist-bare-trees-bloom.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/05/07/columbine-flowers-red.html", "content_html": "

Columbine flowers,
\nred and yellow atop long,
\nthin stems: spring lanterns.

\n\"\"\n", "date_published": "2024-05-07T20:23:08-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/05/07/columbine-flowers-red.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2024/01/20/i-slip-into.html", "content_html": "

I slip into sleep naming gratitudes:
\nA litany against fear.
\nNight-voices may wake and shake me,
\nBut I’m learning not to hear.

\n", "date_published": "2024-01-20T17:02:28-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2024/01/20/i-slip-into.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2022/01/21/ive-set-up-a-page.html", "content_html": "

I’ve set up a page for a zine I recently completed. It’s a collection of some of my poetry from the last few years and it was a lot of fun to create. Lots of hunting for public domain images and futzing around with my copier. My favorite part was creating the winter haiku page. I had already written the haiku so I googled phrases so that I could print the text and then cut it up ransom note style. In any case, head over there for a pdf download and subscription information.

\n", "date_published": "2022-01-21T09:30:00-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2022/01/21/ive-set-up-a-page.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2021/12/23/in-process-my-first-attempt.html", "content_html": "

In process: my first attempt at a zine, which will contain a few of my winter haiku. I was inspired to give it a try after seeing Austin Kleon’s.

\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-23T19:40:00-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2021/12/23/in-process-my-first-attempt.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2021/12/21/i-noticed-my-feet-this.html", "content_html": "

I noticed my feet this morning….

\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-21T08:49:00-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2021/12/21/i-noticed-my-feet-this.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] }, { "id": "http://jabel.micro.blog/2021/12/13/look-into-the-trees-gentle.html", "content_html": "

Look into the trees, gentle
\nyour eyes, engage your ancient talent
\nfor spotting movement.
\nListen for the breeze to pick up.
\n
\nYou will see dozens descending,
\nan alien visitation, sinuous,
\nsilent, sliding to earth
\nfrom hawk height.
\n
\nThey come to rest in dry creek beds,
\namassing on mossened rocks.
\nThe forest floor - always
\ncovered in them - thickens.
\n
\nThey arrive dead
\nin certain obvious ways.
\nBut to those who look along time:
\nPanspermia.

\n", "date_published": "2021-12-13T15:46:00-04:00", "url": "https://jabel.blog/2021/12/13/look-into-the-trees-gentle.html", "tags": ["Poetry by me"] } ] }