Gendenwitha
.
Bluebird’s song in spring .....................
blackbird’s song in summer
whisked.............................................
from the forest ...
......................................on hawk’s wings
in autumn
Dim skin ........pale.....................
blue-gray of distance
..............................................only a point
......................................only a desire
beloved
sunrise brushes....................................................
lavender-gray..........................
rose and salmon..............
adored.......
morning ............of Sessondowah
above the gate
.............of coming light
.......................................................affixed
.........................................captured
bringing............................................................
the dawn.................................
we rise
...........................into heaven
apart.........
blackbird’s song in summer
whisked.............................................
from the forest ...
......................................on hawk’s wings
in autumn
Dim skin ........pale.....................
blue-gray of distance
..............................................only a point
......................................only a desire
beloved
sunrise brushes....................................................
lavender-gray..........................
rose and salmon..............
adored.......
morning ............of Sessondowah
above the gate
.............of coming light
.......................................................affixed
.........................................captured
bringing............................................................
the dawn.................................
we rise
...........................into heaven
apart.........
.........................................out of reach
.
.
Hanging Keys
.
Walking
to the lot
where Gendenwitha parks
Pahn finds
a delivery truck
the owner having gone off
leaving his keys
in the locking cap
Pahn remarks to her
that anyone
could take those keys
and get into that truck
seeing what might be there
and seeing
if there were anything
desirable
But Pahn is constrained
to consider it really
because she isn’t his
and he has no right
to go there
to the lot
where Gendenwitha parks
Pahn finds
a delivery truck
the owner having gone off
leaving his keys
in the locking cap
Pahn remarks to her
that anyone
could take those keys
and get into that truck
seeing what might be there
and seeing
if there were anything
desirable
But Pahn is constrained
to consider it really
because she isn’t his
and he has no right
to go there
.
.
On the Forehead of Dawn
.
In a field of dim light
Gendenwitha begins
as a point
multi-rayed
beams splintered
as if through glass
coming out
of a distant left
to hover
while the sense
of a Spanish word
luminaria
poorly defined
coats the air behind him
thickening
losing her crisp
brittleness
acquiring
flexible
blunt spines
devolving into a green
fetal projection
she begins to speak
in tones of long
and straight
floating to his body
and attaches
shrinks
strengthens
Gendenwitha begins
as a point
multi-rayed
beams splintered
as if through glass
coming out
of a distant left
to hover
while the sense
of a Spanish word
luminaria
poorly defined
coats the air behind him
thickening
losing her crisp
brittleness
acquiring
flexible
blunt spines
devolving into a green
fetal projection
she begins to speak
in tones of long
and straight
floating to his body
and attaches
shrinks
strengthens
becomes erect
.
.
Crying
Pahn is
with his wife (Aiks)
in Djuturna’s
apartment
dusty night
coming in
among the couches
beds and blankets
dark colors
Djuturna
holds him
he is glad of her embrace
feeling
it is not too much for Aiks
to see
But Djuturna leads him
to a day bed
by her kitchen
pulling him down over her
like a
quilt
Her body
feels hard and frozen
with pain
Not letting go
sensing his uneasiness
she says
desperately
“I am so lonely”
it could be
Pahn talking
He is afraid of Aiks' jealousy
He gets up
saying
“She is with your husband—
Jahneuss”
and runs to the bedroom where
he thinks
Aiks and Jahneuss are in bed
together
Yanking the blankets
from the heaving
underneath he finds
Aiks playing with their son
and she says
“Djuturna’s husband
is out in the rain
crying”
And it might be Pahn
crying
White Fish
Picking footsteps
over gravel run
along the low
clear pools
after the rain
which
actually
has
not yet fallen
the screen of trees
separating
the descending stream
from the edifices
of work
having
left
the light children
happy
and intrusive
on the sand
of the riparian flats
he is noting
that the rain
will have washed
the fingerlings
into the permanent stream
and wondering
as he often does
why so few bother to save
themselves
from the drying
Soon
he encounters meanders
under the drizzle
of
aphid honeydew
and sagging gossamer
and pocket arms
of cutoff oxbows—
still backwater
of the larger creek
And here observes
the larger fish
in shoals
over the shifting
brown silt
Seeing one that is longer
and thinner
perhaps a pike
he reaches in
and catches it in his fist
surprised
at how easily
wondering
if it would be
good
and safe to eat
then shocked
to see
that its tail
has already been bitten off
He lets it go
It reminds him now
of a white goldfish he had
as a child
and how
he found it sick one day
floating
listless on its side
soon to die
A Small Dark Blue Myth
The time
between them
definite
from the beginning
Gendenwitha is
known not
lying beside him
the length
of a spring she has never It seems
the span so
of evening Aware inconsequential
the distance of her presence to speak
to her car parting of an attraction
Last words the realization or to ask
insignificant entering that he
the body of might have had
a black sweater waking once this
a chain that a deity small light
new blue jeans of sunrise in his room
has restrained
without him denied
acknowledgment even the
conception
of a single
pinpoint
in the heavens
she is there
on the forehead
of dawn
beyond reach
his punishment
for having
come back
to earth
Inevitable Creation
.
Returning
from the act
of putting poems in
a mail box
having stopped to milk
his bounty of sensation
carrying it
in an old cloth up
the stairs to be washed
he looks back seeing
a trail of bright cream
his fertility
too copious
to hold in his hands
dripping onto the banister
running
along the beams
Fearing discovery
he tries to wipe it off
spreading
inadvertently damp
enamel too thick
and adhesive
to remove
.
from the act
of putting poems in
a mail box
having stopped to milk
his bounty of sensation
carrying it
in an old cloth up
the stairs to be washed
he looks back seeing
a trail of bright cream
his fertility
too copious
to hold in his hands
dripping onto the banister
running
along the beams
Fearing discovery
he tries to wipe it off
spreading
inadvertently damp
enamel too thick
and adhesive
to remove
.
.
Hermitage
Panning
the length
of the canyon
a version
of teenage
exploration
rolling
pavement
dry must
seeping creek
down from Priest Rock
walking back
informs Pahn
of the hermitage
above
up a rocky path
into the re-growth
of chaparral
past the ore tailings
Climbing a crude stair
through
abandoned stamp mill
chute
arriving
at Sunday school
Kindergarten
museum
crafts
tables
kind safe quiet gay
priests
giving instruction
in glue and paper
Pahn’s children
reasonably
contented
already
comfortable
in the environment
of their people
then coming away
with their father
to the artifacts
of explorers
and obscured ethnicities
their
baskets
pestles
Pahn leaves alone
with a spear
souvenir
meaningful
at first
but
soon unneeded
He descends the trail
through
the
laurel
into the canyon
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