1

what could

where would

 

why should

 

2

aim

less

name

less

 

3

three

you 

me

we

 

4

or

more

 

 

 

 

 

Herring gulls

A gull up here is

clearly immature.

All eyes,

cries come

from a big-boned beak. 

I seek proof of

his lineage.

Pink legged,

he walks around this ledge eight stories up 

as if he owned the place.

I almost believe him,

though swifts race by, unimpressed. 

He and I have guessed wrong,

hold misplaced assumptions.

My bold friend,

know

less fish now

so studies show

herring gull numbers too are low.

 

My mother's mouth is mine

grinding teeth in sleep

deep dreams

worn canines

 

Will I

become

sponge-hipped

slip into death

like her, alone

all broken bones?

 

Alone, yes

all cursed or blessed with this.

But I'll go boned stronger,

no Parkinson's

live longer.

 

 

 

 

who is to lose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

erasing my own history

power in that -

a legacy that doesn't outlast 

my memory

or

let go of the outcome

this unequal teeter

between

wealth and bad teeth

between who is

telling your story

I am not impressed by power.

My high school gives the wrong graduation date.

My gallery has the wrong year and

what place on earth I was born to.

I cannot erase their mistakes.

They can insist upon these.

But

they cannot erase my grandmother's knees

or the piece of swamp in my heart.

They cannot erase the muskrat, beaver kit, surprised stoat, motes of fresh water between

me and the present.

I could. 

I could wipe it all away and stay here without it. 

If I so chose.

 

talks about minimal but

rewards reaped in full

still

you'll try to find empty 

try just enough

and leave this sieve in place

1

if not hope (full) (less)

youth (ful) (less)

or age (d) (less)

 

2

After stars, sleep.

deep dream (s) (less)

rest (ful) (less)

 

3

if not eye (d) (less)

if not youth (ful) (less)

age (d) (less)

 

 

 

 

 

 night sky

vega

zeta hercules

aldebaran

landscape of sea

trees

a dog barks

hammers

out

warning

 

To the east

bright

moon 

waning gibbous

and Mars

near

Aldebaran 

t r a u m a t i s t

Degrees of truth

Memory is not truth

Observe 

Choose

Feed

Lose

hungry ghosts

stories

without end

 swifts so busy and talkative this morning

smarty pants, working class

reading Greek and Latin

put class to bed

got shot in the head

another one dead

the rich man said

I think it's becoming a pattern

- dedicated to director George Romero

 

 

 

tree of heaven

norfolk pine

seven eleven

five and dime

(continuing)

Introduced

 

Araucaria heterophylla 

Araucaria da ilha de Norfolk

Norfolk Island pine, an ancient tree

conical conifer not a true pine

dined on by dinosaurs

(Jurassic to Cretaceous)

It is a wood made into bowls and  crucifixes

 

Introduced

 

Ailanthus altissisima

Tree of Heaven, Chinese sumac

(can be confused with black walnut)

In Portugal it has an invasive score of 20

Allelopathic,

limiting the growth of other species,

it is a medicinal plant used in folk remedies

(diarrhea, asthma, cramps, epilepsy, fast heart rate, gonorrhea)

It remains unsupported by western medicine

Planted in city wastelands,  it tolerates pollution, breaks down cement for its lime.

 

Also

 

Ipomea indica

glória da manhã 

is a laxative and headache remedy used in Mesoamerica and Asia,

that flushes hillsides, ruins gardens, loves old stone walls.

left behind

 

Galinsoga Parviflora is an ugly plant, leggy and awkward.

("Fresh leaves and juice of GP have been used in folk medicine throughout the world to treat dermatological disorders including eczema, lichen, and non-healing and/or bleeding wounds.")

 

left behind

 

Datura is beautiful, helpful but deadly. I confuse with brugmansia, the angel´s trumpet, and also toxic.

 

continuing

 

Who or what shoe brought broom here, another useful but dangerous weed?

 

 

 

 andromeda

pegasus

pisces under the horizon

aquarius

east

 

west

virgo 

lying down

over the  sea

 

Altair above

below the moon, saturn

(capricornus) and

microscopium

 

North,

and perseus

 

 

It is not uncommon for survivors of abuse to favor the peripatetic.

Do they find peace in roaming the world? 

Are they freed physically from the weight and entanglement of site-specific memory?

 

I am fascinated by stones, their geologic nightmares and dreams.

I imagine streams of stones, also survivors, flushed from melting glaciers.

 

Where are they now, those souls, those stones?

 

Erratic behaviors.

 

Clocha an fhile

poet's stones

 

Damaged souls seek each other,

build refuges 

in stony rooks and nooks. 

 

Their rock-worn poems?

 

In runes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Swifts so talkative up here in the fog.

Deep inside,  pain

never goes away.

Boys are burning on sofas

or hitting their heads

in shallow watery quarries.

Small girls open like broken blossoms -

one killed herself because of you, 

I'm certain of it.

Tigers are increasing in Nepal.

Flame colored,

one swims a river,

strikes grass gatherers,

kills a mother, brother, daughter.

 

Still

wondering if killing

is in our bones.

Will a man

ever

begin

to turn upon himself

from within,

try to rinse out sins

like a child's

blood spotted cloth,

or become a moth aflame,

find a waterborne accident?

 

I was thinking about these deaths and injuries this morning.

 

I realized I don't wish 

human predators dead,

but burning,

sinking,

terrorizing dreams

instead.

 

 

small seen things - a record

1

An Iberian 

(wall lizard)

roams between the studio and terrace.

2

A street poet

reads Camus 

opens

my world again 

 

3

August

haze wrapping

sounds of

children

playing

 

3

This bird in air or 

another there 

on the terrace

where an old gold dog

flanks like bamboo

lives out her thin life

 

4

Blessed

by fog

and sleep -

rest!

 

5

Leaves 

collect

water from the night air

eight stories up 

6

Beyond the rail

white

and possibilities

7

Shouting last night

same fight

husband and wife have

anywhere

wages are stolen 

8 

more cool weather

happy for my nest