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

Photograph by Lee Ka-sing - A matter of red

Exquisite small reds

                                   arrowhead reds

            amphetamine reds
                                       platelet reds
cochineal

jelly beans

                          fingernails
                                            cinnamon hearts
lovely red stuff

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

Photograph by Lee Ka-sing - Self portrait about fighting with a red rubber cone

Like a Lawnmower

for the big problems

I have a machine
like a lawnmower

it works best
during afternoons
in June
with buttery sunlight

you push it around
and it coughs up
answers