Four Poems

THE GIFTS

Two handfuls of baby carrots

and it’s as though you’ve sprouted

extra fingers only summers count

loud wine suppers on the back porch

as near to extrovert as you’ll ever get

the strong attraction to fidelity

no practise makes perfect faithful

to absence these years subside

the dark woods open behind the house

Hearing water opens the ears as

an old stream comes down the mountain

for the first time in this temporary bed

under this low ceiling self plays

with now only now and morning’s breeze

wakens the skin two pregnant women

mother aunt full before yearning their

blueberry pancakes a field a cottage

a stream a mountain

One and two and three and four and a field of

grasshoppers jumping up your skirt up

so close to your eyes before you knew

to cover them only feel not see

their rasp on your legs dry horrible who

they jump to is like unto a god a

smaller boy his crew-cut shining blond

hand in hand in hand he laughs at insects

life runs away from you

Be sure there’s another mountain there’s

another stream to sit in its roar over rock

moss fern web and drink not as much fun

as in the beer commercial a different boy

tougher darker who demands works you

wrings you out turns you and picks

even the lint from your pockets

you are useful to him as

a household appliance

But leave such a scene

the heart kick planted in an

anonymous apartment tower block hallway

where we didn’t live visiting a chipped

tooth to thank him for a closed account

the bank never forgets credit rating a

matter of hands jerking money out

of the machine the body remembers its

mistakes goodbye wave goodbye

Satisfaction in silence and ownership

how beautiful are the feet

of them that walk peaceful

antique lanes small fenced graveyards

playgrounds parking pads designer-gardens

uninhabited as though when you pass

everyone rushes inside once

there was a boy sat on his front steps played

guitar and sang softly too late he said hello

So still so far out at the last moment the

sea rushes at the land its

salt is what we’re made of brought

to soil a mixture we pray we are

unsinkable strong enough to keep out stance

of course we sway at this work

slick oily water pulls water there

is no mind in our bodies now

now the land is dangerous

Oh separation oh attachment oh salt bliss on

my chest in my chest blinking sleepless

naked caught now a star night fish

moon sweeter than the smoke of music

burning I smell on her the sea

my smell on her I would lick

her clean but we don’t do that

I give her milk and many nights before

she walks dry onto the earth

Some nights there are kisses that edge

to a centre you have to miss you look

out at the dark on dark and in

to your lamp your book the water

is still and moves the earth the breeze

is still and moves the leaves and your hands

still sprout extra fingers like

baby carrots the tenderness of years

opening to the woods behind the house

 

STRANGE

that one red leaf

among so many green

resembles an apple

animals have

a resistance to

this fraud

survival

demands

that some

still reach out

and taste.

 

THE SUNSET BANK—JULY

Insubstantial moon gives way and sun

is all and peaks and burns us down to rest

clover grass seed heads make purple waves

that mock us wet with memories of river lake

pools slosh and shriek

washed cars’ suds at driveways’ ends

potholes tarred and rolled in a licorice rush

kids try to chew the melting leftovers at the edge

treated sewage flows under the bridge

jog over easy run back hard

light streaks to places west

gunpowder flashes red green gold through trees

drowns out the eerie noise of the travelling fair

its exaggerated antics unnatural pleasures

the band nasty amplified distorted strutting

Hawk soaring thermal day

we need to sink our feet in green wet

where arrowhead hangs pond scum floats

cattails open above our heads

tree-fringed clouds hover confirm weather’s breaking

stillness bird punctuated

the whole world heavy growth heat aphrodisiac

yet a cool breeze is a welcome gift

full clouds lower wet air to swim through

the day melts desire to work or play even rest uncomfortable

heat lightning jars eyes in the dark

Not by layers peeled to the core a pellet

tears blown off a limestone shore

but bitter chicory blue coarse gravel scrunch

trees exhale soft gases strong yellow going

going darkening cornfields amazing complicated

cloud billows tufts puffs drag haze true heavens

sun-tinged one waits for the touch the reaching finger

cool smoky reverse pink glow

smooth white and wisp ruffle half moon by last daylight

field sparrows sing night

Soft grasses pasha’s silver fly whisk horsetail hair

plucked cream yucca bells molluscs attached to

rock green spine woodchuck running streaks past

two clear white butterflies on lavender

sun butters the walls drowning in cloud

sends searchlight beams through blue marble

black butterfly and thumbnail frog oh perfect

how good to exhale words walk above ground

oh small wing shadow crest beak cry

and so evening comes on

Red-winged raspberry bushes cackle

unicorn expecting sky puffed bright open

afternoon air maple syrup sweet

orange day lilies stretch crow high

yellow birds claw lily stems

leaving they become flowers that fly

insect buzz

dry chopped hay dust on sweaty arms

sudden pine tree coolness

yellow studs in deep grass waves

underwater dandelions ride through shad

covered in green slow stained black

pale stippled sky

Sun in old stone wood brick concrete iron vee

people trickle in like weeds

outdoor concert smoke and dogs

guitarist laughs as he drops a chord

a love song to a child friend

motorcycle industrial machine screams

pigeons down cock heads as

seagulls spin white through blue

shadow eats white clover goldenrod

Queen Anne’s lace weed maple bladder Campion

guitar words stop and we turn to look

two horse-drawn wagons

one driver hacks and spits

walk rhythm ca-tack ca-tack

girders hold wire for train’s thrummed strings

a pink blue haze blown back

Grass lays down a something dead

dark moth alights the end of a dream

on cream hydrangea sweet heat white weak

the hollow tube that is a bird

hot orange tiger lily sun snuffed

as an expression of life a wonderful book

poisoned by humidity golden flies

sometimes water can be revelation

dream pink sky and crickets

such a warm night on which to freeze

overtaken by puffs of gray and white

circling bats the shining silver window edge

 

THE KEY

The key must enter the eye many times.

If the eye blinks, the key cannot turn.

Hold steady.