Number 14
New Year's Eve—2019
there aren't any
New Year's bells now
but I remember
chimes at midnight
heard over the popping
of champagne corks
accidental kisses
beyond an auld lang syne
falling across the garden
the church down the street
took away its bell
and replaced it with a cassette tape
and a loudspeaker
that never worked
New Year's is like a cloud
that goes by
nobody looks up
there's just passing
but something is pulling at me
from the stars
Number 13
CHRISTMAS POEM
Christmas is approaching fast
a couple of days now
I saw a man put a slab of honeycomb
on his head like a hat
the honey dripped down
like a choir’s song
over his shoulders
his tears fell like wax
Christmas is burdening the winter
a week or two
of logs in a fireplace
public joy goes into the air like sparks
the people weep fir trees
howl ribbons of tape
how the crunch
of their Christmas boots
strains the hard chest of earth
Christmas sits in the corner of the room
with fruit pies and magpies
and mad black crows of glass and wine
peace be ours
cry the loudspeakers
parking for your car
in the depth of your dreams
crumbs for the birds at your fingertips
A Criminal on the Street
A Criminal on the Street
you run
into a criminal
on the street
he's counting
the days
on his gloved fingers
you ask him
for some outlaw
cool
he smiles
like a wax pig
trips on the curb
you help him up
he is soft like
a breast of chicken
his grey hair
dead grass
a cat walks by
in its taffeta freedom
shoots him
through the heart
with a whisker
#11, News from the space station
Toy
Galileo's toy
with its spectacular rings
amuses space
like a nightlight
in darkness
expect to hear
mariner music
through two hundred inches
of telescope
number 10: Flowers from the vase number 2
Lily
she stands in the hall
her fist held up for a candle
she says not to worry
time passes she says
no cause for alarm
she says unless it stops
this is dreaming us both
she turns her lapel over
there's a dead lily
pinned there
#9: Cat Story
Cafe Afternoon
a cat's paw
scratches rivers
in a linen tablecloth
where two diners
now swim
pale as yogurt
No. 8: Story and the large tree
Electric Tree
touch this cracking tree
and die
become an outlet
in the sky
circuit branches
sear the air
they haveth cinders
everywhere
Note: The phrase "haveth cinders everywhere" in the last line of my poem is my corruption of a famous line in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake *(1939) which alludes to the fact that Joyce's protagonist/world-dreamer, H.C Earwicker (whose dream Finnegan's Wake actually is) is also known as "Here Comes Everybody." It is also said of him that he "haveth childers (i.e. children) everywhere." Earwicker's "childers" became my "cinders."
no.7: Blue Voyage
Schooner
built well
to be
a reciprocity
of slats and boards
set measureless
abreast
to
dip in the sea
to
drift
towards its own gaze
Number 6: We Cannot See
Sleepless
an electricity
nipping my ankles
keeping me awake
my wrists
are pinched
like links of chain
my ears whistle
loud as hydro lines
in drizzle
it's only 3:30
but I can't pull
the blanket darkness
up over me
everyone around
sleeps like the ocean
I am driftwood
unsupported by cradling
waves
Number 5: Piles of Pins
Piles of Pins
Mount Fuji
ice cream
an airliner
hovers above it
a hanging refrigerator
this is Japan in the cold
its chrysanthemums snapped
into piles of pins
Number 4: Eternal Return
Photograph by Lee Ka-sing - Big moon and a large star |
Eternal Return
The spacecraft lands
soft as down in a pillow
the insect astronauts
are debriefed
at the corner
under a streetlamp
the questions begin:
is the earth still a clod
is the moon still cheese
is space black velvet
with cubic zirconia stars?
Number 3: Reds
Number 2: Dog Barking at the Moon
Photograph by Lee Ka-sing - Dragon in the city |
I felt an unruly dog was dragon enough and wrote this poem, after a painting by Joan Miro from 1926 called "Dog Barking at the Moon."
This ham-faced
dog of mine
legs like pencils
stands barking
at the lantern moon
hanging low
over the lawn
like a pinata
I'm sitting
on the veranda
sipping my black tea
thinking about
curtailing the dog
or breaking off a branch
to whack the moon with
anything for some quiet
this used to be
a silent street
until it got a moon
of its own
and I took on
this frantic, upturned dog
Number 1. Like a Lawnmower
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