#Craig Arnold

[magnoliaison]

Teach me a fruit of  your country I asked and so you dipped into a shop and in your hand held me a thick yellow pinecone

no knife between us you put it to your teeth sideways like a bird and bit and peeled away the fleshy scales or were they petals

crisp white at the core peppered with black seeds sweet and light like a cold cloud like some exotic sherbet carried hand over hand from a mountaintop by a relay of runners straightway to the Inca’s high table

we sat on metal chairs still pebbled with rain the seat of my pants damp we passed it back and forth no matter how carefully we could not help

spilling the juice making our cheeks sticky our fingers getting sticky our fingers no not even once touching

— Craig Arnold, 'Pitahaya'.

[havingapoemwithyou]

lines for painting on grains of rice by Craig Arnold

[heartlandians]

Heartland - 6x18 - Under Pressure

[wordsthatkeepmyfeetdry]

Bird-Understander by Craig Arnold

[confessions-heartland]

"I think it’s really strange that there’s been absolutely no mention of Jeff for ages. Not since Georgie was a kid. Like did they have a falling out? Does he not care about her anymore?? His “trying to be a better big brother” arc was too short lived. I hope they bring him back! Recasted or otherwise."

[godzilla-reads]

This poem is really hitting different today.

[oflights]

Bird-Understander

Of many reasons I love you here is one the way you write me from the gate at the airport so I can tell you everything will be alright so you can tell me there is a bird trapped in the terminal      all the people ignoring it       because they do not know what to do with it       except to leave it alone until it scares itself to death it makes you terribly terribly sad You wish you could take the bird outside and set it free or       (failing that) call a bird-understander to come help the bird All you can do is notice the bird and feel for the bird       and write to tell me how language feels impossibly useless

but you are wrong You are a bird-understander better than I could ever be who make so many noises and call them song These are your own words your way of noticing and saying plainly of not turning away from hurt you have offered them to me       I am only giving them back if only I could show you how very useless they are not

Craig Arnold

[heartlandtfln]

“(714): Nothing quite like walking through a spider web on your way back in from smoking to fuck up a perfectly good high.“

[mypaperheartmanips]

[fluttering-slips]

Bird-Understander

Of many reasons I love you here is one

the way you write me from the gate at the airport

so I can tell you everything will be alright

so you can tell me there is a bird

trapped in the terminal      all the people

ignoring it       because they do not know

what to do with it       except to leave it alone

until it scares itself to death

it makes you terribly terribly sad

You wish you could take the bird outside

and set it free or       (failing that)

call a bird-understander

to come help the bird

All you can do is notice the bird

and feel for the bird       and write

to tell me how language feels

impossibly useless

but you are wrong

You are a bird-understander

better than I could ever be

who make so many noises

and call them song

These are your own words

your way of noticing

and saying plainly

of not turning away

from hurt

you have offered them

to me       I am only

giving them back

if only I could show you

how very useless

they are not

CRAIG ARNOLD

[fragbot]

These are your own words your way of noticing and saying plainly of not turning away from hurt you have offered them to me       I am only giving them back

- from "Bird-Understander," Craig Arnold (x)

[marimuntanya]

Bird-Understander

BY CRAIG ARNOLD

Of many reasons I love you here is one the way you write me from the gate at the airport so I can tell you everything will be alright so you can tell me there is a bird trapped in the terminal      all the people ignoring it       because they do not know what to do with it       except to leave it alone until it scares itself to death it makes you terribly terribly sad You wish you could take the bird outside and set it free or       (failing that) call a bird-understander to come help the bird All you can do is notice the bird and feel for the bird       and write to tell me how language feels impossibly useless but you are wrong You are a bird-understander better than I could ever be who make so many noises and call them song These are your own words your way of noticing and saying plainly of not turning away from hurt you have offered them to me       I am only giving them back if only I could show you how very useless they are not Craig Arnold, "Bird-Understander." Copyright 2009 by Craig Arnold. Reprinted by permission of the author.Source: [manuscript] (Poetry Foundation, 2009)

[odo-apologist]

POV: You're a scientist and the little creatures you've been observing have discovered one of the hidden cameras you placed in their natural habitat

[wordsthatkeepmyfeetdry]

Very Large Moth

By Craig Arnold

After D.H.L.

Your first thought when the light snaps on and the black wings

clatter about the kitchen is a bat

the clear part of  your mind considers rabies the other part

does not consider knows only to startle

and cower away from the slap of  its wings though it is soon

clearly not a bat but a moth and harmless

still you are shy of it it clings to the hood of the stove

not black but brown its orange eyes sparkle

like televisions its leg  joints are large enough to count

how could you kill it where would you hide the body

a creature so solid must have room for a soul

and if  this is so why not in a creature

half  its size or half its size again and so on

down to the ants clearly it must be saved

caught in a shopping bag and rushed to the front door

afraid to crush it feeling the plastic rattle

loosened into the night air it batters the porch light

throwing fitful shadows around the landing

That was a really big moth is all you can say to the doorman

who has watched your whole performance with a smile

the half-compassion and half-horror we feel for the creatures

we want not to hurt and prefer not to touch

[astralbondpro]

Red Dwarf // S13: The Promised Land

[betterdeadthansmeg]

Chris and Craig totally enjoying Tongue Tied.