Dimphna

.

Crossing ....................the channel
..............from the mind
................................................lost
..............................................accosted

there is a forest.....................................................
a labyrinth of desire............................
the melting face..............
the paralyzed limbs
the subtle voices
...............................of pines
........the absurd protection
....................................of toadstools
accompaniment
.............................of grasses
......hiding stones

clarity brings us
safe....................
..............................................and honest longing

............................we are adoring
................we are lying

........on a bed of blades

.

Lost Sequences of Personalities

In a workshop

of story fragments

Pahn sits    on the south side    of the room

in an arc of desks    listening

to Ahshehra talk and call

upon them to recite 

 and Pahn remembers     having written

something     He flips

through his papers     finding

essay pages

and long-lines of prosy

phrases       but 

Lehsohveekha    is it her?      Speaks

 first

her words are lost now

and toward the end    of her page   he hears

Dimphna’s voice

reading in unison

and recalls now        that they

have    collaborated in his fondness for them  

The class ends

and he watches them drive

toward the roundabout     in the coastal plain

  then takes    the roundabout himself…

…soon he is riding

 through the rhythm-and-blues

neighborhood    toward the bohemian

district       with an old bluesman

        on the radio   He is following

a man    on a bicycle    wearing

a faded orange-brown

blazer    who turns and smiles

back at the sound

of the song    and begins

to sway with the

 music           

And Pahn

       with the memory

of the class

with Dimphna and Lehsohveekha    behind him

now knows   

he can dance with music

he always knew he had rhythm

but was unable to express it

jumping

and popping

        his bicycle

down the block             and

        around

         the                        

          corner…

…he has arrived at the front of a store

that has the smell of recycled age—

the sharp edges and white walls

of fifties modern    plastered onto the frame

of indefinite past    eras     and layered

with post-modern decoration       It is

a palimpsest of influences—

Empire/

Eichler/

East Indian/

New England Collegiate/

Kinsey/

Adrienne Rich/

Silvia Plath/

Beatnik/

Hippie   Pahn

leaves his bike and meets a young woman     who? 

in front of the store  and picks up   there

a bounteous tangled soft   

               hank of dull orange yarn

                                 that he holds in his arms

                          like a child

dragging the loose loops

through the damp dirt 

                                         laughing

                                  with the woman

                     and making jokes

of realizing      it was left there

because the end had been vomited on       Swiftly

and confidently          he swings his hand

through the strands

like a sharp knife

through soba noodles

                                                    freeing

the clean and happy

                                               from the bedraggled

 

                                                And Pahn

is so happy in the woman’s company

                                                           that he says

they should marry…

…he is inside the store             Rakhehla

is with him now      suggesting another woman whom 

Pahn met years ago

but as

he peruses the rooms—

a vague venue

of books and paintings

                                  objet d’art 

                  and gauzy second-hand clothes—

he flirts

                                                      with the Rakhehla-woman

saying beautiful things

                                to her    as she shifts

in and out of various loves    of Pahn

                                                                   slowly

gravitating into Dimphna

 and after a while

he is so happy with her             that he suggests

that they should marry also

                                                but

reminds himself        and her

that he has just suggested the same

to the other woman

                                    outside 

It is getting late

                     and she in her shy

                               contented amour     says

good-night to Pahn     and goes

to another room

where she lies down

       sleepily

and happily

recounting to Rakhehla the lines of poetry

                                 that he has spoken to her

of how beautiful and loving

                                             they were

                                                                       and she drifts

                                                into a topographic sleep

while 

Pahn slowly lifts

                                             above the building

 

seeing the first woman fade

 into a valley like Egairia

on a geologic map       a small

        and level

glade in metamorphic terrain

 

seeing the second woman fade

into a valley like Djuturna

thin

and gentle

                   of light felsic terrain

    sloping

              gently

to the East

Vague and Scattered Betrothals

Pahn is standing with a woman 

Her legs show beneath

her tan leather dress     the color

                              of a leaf

                          on the forest floor 

She is friendly

                              and amorous…

…they are lying in the bed on the floor of her room…

…She is kneeling over him 

He feels her warmth               

and dampness                                      

as she eases herself                                         

down onto him                                                         

He feels the faint buzzing                                       

as he flexes              

and relaxes                           

               He feels his body open

  

    from his thighs              

              to his chest     His heart

             lies motionless in his throat

                                                         and he swells

with air           his sex in a knot

                                              rising

  He tells her             

                 that he may be

                                                      more successful on top

                                           and is thinking

                 of kneeling behind her

                but rolls over

                                                 with her instead    and pushes

       between her legs

                                       a few times

                                                               and bursts

As he lies on top

of her lifting

the blanket with his back

and slowly

sliding over by her side                     he struggles

 to remember her name—Sekwia

                                         Esentia

                                             Sukaya

Sequaya

though he would pronounce it as Sequoia

He has become sure

and the name

                    sticks in his mind…

…He walks around thinking of Sequaya…

…Sequaya is

                     pregnant

with Pahn’s child         and he wants

to marry her

                                   but he is not sure if he may 

He vaguely thinks

that he might already

                     be married

or that he is betrothed

to someone else—   

there is             

                  someone else in his mind

                             that he could marry instead…

…He is walking

on a flooded street

as he worries

that he may not be able

to properly support

Sequaya’s child

and another family as well 

Across the street he sees

a small pear tree

turning yellow and scarlet

from the autumn cold                

 He thinks it is a good tree for

his coming marriage    because

 it has stayed small

 and it is very pretty 

He remembers though

that in other places

with more fertile soil

it can grow quite large—

too large for a small yard 

He thinks he may need

a bigger

more ragged woman…

…he is standing on a road by a creek looking at the erosion 

that occurred while the water was high

wondering why they have not

put cobbles or boulders in the vulnerable places

to keep the soil from washing out

Marriages

                     and proposals

leaves             

                                 and stems

Dimphna                      

flits

                  flying

Eithnia

                fades into

the covers       into

the trees

                                                   a scattering

of betrothals                          

comes

                                in the rain

a landscape

                       of potential love

unsecured affections

                             gathering

                                                to hover around

Pahn overwhelmed                        

By his high water