Richard Schiffman
Richard Schiffman

Richard Schiffman is an environmental journalist and poet. His collection of poems, What the Dust Doesn't Know, is forthcoming from Salmon Press.

Posts By This Author

Liquid Faith

by Richard Schiffman 06-03-2019
A poem.

Illustration by MUTI

This seep of droplets sponged by moss leaked
from a cleft in the rock; the waters in the cleft
rose osmotically from earth:
the aquifers of earth rained down
from cloudburst skies;

Poem: Shadows

by Richard Schiffman 06-30-2016
Lightspring / Shutterstock

Lightspring / Shutterstock

   

Preparing For The Storm

by Richard Schiffman 05-06-2015
A poem

(Duybox / Shutterstock)

The Greeks know how tightly coiled
are circumstances with many windings
before tragedy’s spring snaps.
The horse bolts flame-like from the gate;
we do not see its years of training.

So too, the thunderhead today slow bloating
and thickening with muffled rumblings.
The steeds were restless, but the reins
held tight, until a crack of the whip
unleashed the pummeling flood.

Heaven's Back Door

by Richard Schiffman 09-01-2011

Eschewing perfection, they knotted in a flaw,
the human signature and kink that made
the carpet whole -- not less perfect, but more
for the fraying edge, the bleeding dyes
that cloak their treasure in disguise,
an act of indirection modeled from on high:
as when the Deity said Be ...
and out crawled -- the twisted,
the crippled, the deformed.

Flimsy Ribbon

by Richard Schiffman 06-01-2010

Somebody noticed this quaking purplish spray
hung incongruous on late-winter's bough,
and tied a festive bow of multicolored yarns
to cheer the anomalous blossoms,

Richard Schiffman Reads

by Richard Schiffman 07-01-2009

This month's poet, Richard Schiffman, reads his poem, "Alone." Richard Schiffman is a poet and writer who splits his time between New York City and New Mexico.

Alone

by Richard Schiffman 07-01-2009

To you who are lost today
like a needle in a haystack, reading this poem alone.
Alone, brother island, sister moon. The ocean is big,