, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010]Passage III [excerpt]
wavelap and lakeslap lick
the ear; the air carries
stripes in the
low precincts of sky –
a mower blares somewhere
above A and
shuts off a
shock of
silence
into which the wave-
slaps surge
•
to enter the water
in Mayan
to die
•
over there the gray
gathering
sheath meant
rain
but our private sun
continues to sign-
post a clear day at least
for us.
an earthquake
in China
means
precisely what
to me
wondered Adam Smith –
the world disappearing
the instant my tooth aches: Sartre
my skin some days
extends
as wide as the sea
and the waves of the world
roll through, equable
terrible
but I am living this narrow
life and no other
except yours I imagine
some days we’re graced
or grazed by a shared bullet
•
today no thrush silvered the air
in the woods
the wind blowing hard
against the bike
passing a stretch of field
where tractors for miles around
come to die
the iron congregation rusting
faithful as the grass.
the cows at Saywards Farm seemed
too confined
why aren’t they grazing in the field and why
are their calves
wired in –
late last night
after the sunset
I did not see
the lake took on that babyish hue
I so love and I saw
a sole balloon aloft lifting over Vergennes
puffing by Camel’s Hump
and heading east –
we have harnessed the air
for our pleasure
our leisure a rhyme
with the weather
clearing as if the
skies cared
or could
•
radios and weathervanes
conduct the air
disperse manes
•
mountains deforested
by distance
Hokusai shapes cut
against the
sky the clouds
address just
so
and through the same air
the radio pours
its usual brew of cheer & death
what wonder little schizo
you reel so
in the fractured world
the sky bends to my way
and to yours and to home
sweet home
As a flatlander who once lived up in Vermont, the words "Camel's Hump" caught my eye. This poem brought those Vermont places and sounds back clearly but it has other layers too that I'm still trying to grasp. I love it.
ReplyDeleteHope your doing well, Carol.