Jim Culleny is the Poetry Editor of 3 Quarks Daily. After a stint in the navy, Jim received a BA in Art Education from William Paterson University and did graduate work in art at NYU. He taught art for several years in NJ public schools in Newark and Bergen County. Taught a little bit of everything else during two years at a remote residential community school in New York’s Adirondacks. Was a social worker in Lower Manhattan before Soho was Soho. Made a living most of his life as a carpenter, designer, and builder. Did regular radio commentary for about 10 years during Morning Edition on WFCR.FM in Amherst, Mass. and some for NPR on All Things Considered. Played and sang his way from rockabilly to jazz in numberless band permutations over a period too long to believe. Came to poetry through songwriting. Has had work published in The Third Muse Poetry Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, Penthouse Journal, and in 5-Minute Pieces, a chapbook published in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. He’s also been writing a regular op-ed column for the past 12 years for the Greenfield Recorder along the beautiful Connecticut River, and is presently making a living as project manager for an Architectural firm. Jim lives with his wife, Pat, of 31 years, and his 17 year old granddaughter. He has three daughters and four other grandchildren. Email: jimculleny [at] comcast.net
I have trouble with old picstheir sweet bitternesstheir cutting edgetheir tricks —a daughter’s mittenshung from cuffslaid out in kodachromea taunt of time. Enough. I’d rather mine old nuggetsupturn what’s scatteredin my skull —the gold stick with what my head will hold I do not take nostalgic risksThe photobox stays beneath the bedwith jewel cases of…
Fire in the Brain God is a fire in the brain Nijinsky saidwhich is as close to the truth asanything a dancer might dancewith a bonfire burning in his head God may put you in a trancewith the fluttering of cardinal wingsor with the way the moon looksmounting the mountain’s backon the other side of…
Why Do We Have Heads At All?—on Daniel Lieberman’s The Evolution of the Human Head“The head presents an evolutionary paradox,”says Lieberman, “The roof of the orbitsis the floor of the brain.” And I imagine a roomin which a miracle sponge sits soaking upwhat it means to be alive while other skullsorbit this particular one which,a…
Capela dos Ossos —on a Chruch of Bones, Evora, Portugal We pray in a church of bones in which skulls outline graceful archesof low vaults and whose columns are laddersof stacked femurs. We admire its capitals of craniums It’s walls, unlike the idealizations of Michelangelo, are not fantasies romanced in fresco but the real thing:…
“The only God worth keeping is a God that cannot be kept.The only God worth talking about is a God that cannot be talked about.…God is present when I confront You.” * Modern Timesby Jim Culleny ……………………I and Thou (stern and bow)may have plowed from then to now(but can’t make way from now to thenthrough…
Cold Sting Last night under a full moonwith a threat of frostwe threw row covers over the kale We stumbled from a pile near the trackswith bins of river rocks to weigh the covers down Wind waved their white lightnessover the Red Russian and Lacinatoas if we were flagging Nature,signaling Ok, ok, you win again…
Working Their Mojo …..——A random report on a staus quo from the wild west It’s hard to tell if we’re in the midst of a permanent downtickor just in the throes of what used to be labeled a bad trip—or if “going-to-hell-in-a-bucket” is apropos I’ve almost given up wondering if we might eventually enter an…
Fugitive… -on a photo A big brown bison walks the left white lineof a two-lane, black eyes scanning contemplating asphalt he wonderswhat happened to the grass how’d this black ribbon come to bisectmy meadow between talus and hundred-foot pinesand where are the columbine? He asks no one in particular becausenot even the alpha male in…
Bread on the Water – mp3 Bread Upon the Water Oh, the young don't keepand the old just goand the keeper of the sheepcasts a long, long shadowbut your song won't comewhere your life won't go so throw your bread on the waterand beat your feet to the chimesand if you have a daughterand you…
Under & Over Under a full moon Under a luminous night sky undera full moon Under stark black trees in the cold undera luminous sky at night under a full moon under stars unseen in the light of a full moonhung over a second sphere with an iron core under a magma sea beneath twelve…
Flash Fires If these thoughts became fossilsthey might be found by someneuro-paleontologist in time to comeburied among those of otherspressed in the strata of notionslike carcasses of trilobites in stoneor the bony ghost of a pointing fingercaught in basalt —but they will not be These thoughts are here and gonelike the flickerings of firefliesafter being…
Build no Mosque Near Zero—zero's too near the hole in our hearts: the naughtwe know at night when the bogey-man bites, the zipwe feel when we love hate, the nada of exclusionwhich seeths in the interstices between faith and fear,the cipher that numbers the digits displayed in a holy fist,the nadir of our understanding, the…
The Space Between Now and ThenA breeze through the window at my backnow that summer has reached its august stage,is cool, and the apple tree outside another window swaysnear the purple plum and I as usual bring you coffee and you’re still here as the cat springs from floor to sillstill here as crow caws…
“Despite its mystic chic the square root of pi is indeterminateand senseless, like many other things.” –Roshi Bob On the Difficult Terminal Illness of a Beloved: Black holes, Big Bang, Bada Bing,quantum space, worm holes, theory of strings;space is a smorgasbord of metaphors of things Inside out, upside down, left and right,geometry, calculus, depth and…
“Black holes, Big Bang, Bada Bing, quantum space, worm holes, the Theory of Strings; space is a smorgasbord of metaphors of things.” –Roshi Bob, The Theory of Theories and Other Anomalies; Bench Press, 2011Fun in Space………………..Call me nomad, butrootlessness is my routine From where I standspace seems to beg for explorationnot occupation. Occupation of spacerequires…
1st ZucchiniToday I spied our first zucchiniwhich has followed its saffron flowerlike a compliant stud swelling in shadewithin a forest of coarse stubbled stemsunder a tent of broad leavesgreen as the second color of Christmasa nativity here of the first orderall six inches of it looking to a future of sacrificein a sauté mingled with…
Tending tomato plants while the earthbleeds into the Gulf of MexicoHunkered, hovering over youclipping your lower leaves leaving uncluttered five inchfur-cloaked stems from soil to crownI imagine your crimson future your load of plump red planetswaiting to be pluckedweighted stalks drooping —just a trellis keeping youfrom collapse the way the cosmosis kept by the tension…
SeedingSeeding in a cloud of black flieskneeling and swatting lettuce seeds droppingsmall and humble as asterisksnoting other thoughts of legendsof a universe ripe with proteinsand photosynthesis ; of leaves enfolded on dinner platesbeing lifted by forks slicked with vinegar and oil,garnished with mystery, sweet crisp and fresh as the day ofLet there be light by…
MuhheakantuckThe river that flows both waysflows through my house Sometimes called paradox—called Muhheakantuck by the Lenapewho knew that reversals in timeare not unusual,just often misunderstood by we-who-walk-away-from-understanding The river that flows both wayshas two sources…………….one in front and one behind. It flows fromtwo horizons and meets herein the middle turbulently sometimesbut not always —only when…
“The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.”………………–Tony Hayward, CEO British Petroleum, on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill The Mean Density of a Corporate Brain GhazalOne sees more devils than vast…