Surrogate

.Aiks is
            wanting
                            another baby
not
wanting to carry it
                                    consulting Lakhehsis
she decides
      to have Pahn
      inseminate
         a surrogate

Having
                         searched
for a while
they find            a             prostitute
 
                           and discuss
with the bellhop
the terms—
                           for $500
                             sitting
                                      in a chair
                                      in an elevator
the bellhop says
                                      Pahn may
 
                   But Pahn declines
remembering
                                 Djuturna
                         and thinks
                                            that it should

                                                           be she

.

.

Tsunami

.

Driving north to their house      Pahn                  
and his family       with Lakhehsis
  the road
becomes unfamiliar                                         
narrow                 
and little used

Soon they are skirting                        
the coast
                                        high above the breakers
He is wondering       without a rail            
                                             as the pavement dips
if they will stay on the road

They reach the beach       and                                  
a hint of recognition           

“We’ve been here before”

Pahn says to Aiks                                          

“There is the tree
Under whose shade we sat”

They swim out into the calm water                          
over the protective sand bar                         
into the swells                                    
which begin to rise                

Pahn worries as a large wave comes                          
if it is too big for the children                         
and so they swim back in                     
to the coastal house               

where they straighten up                         
with Lakhehsis                             

Getting ready to leave                                                   
Pahn walks outside                                              
where people stare                              
concerned into the horizon

and talk of a tsunami
        no one knows how big
 
                                It is rising beyond the sand
 
                                                      wind pulling
 
                                                                 spray

Pahn starts for high ground
but stops
            and returns to help his family
 
           He runs into the house
               telling them urgently
 
                “We must go
 
                now”

But it is too late
 
                               When they get outside
 
                                                                              the wave has already arrived

falling short of the house

pulling gravel                                    
as it recedes                                           
 harmlessly                                                     

.

The Family

.

…he goes back
to the wealthy house   because
he has left the door                  unlocked
and was supposed
                  to be taking care of it
                                   until the owners return

The door
is a confusion
of screens
and sliding glass

His key fits them all                                                 
                                                           but won’t lock any

He finds a dial
that has to be turned
to correspond
to the proper door

and as he tries his key again

an older eccentric
woman
walks up
and introduces herself

She doesn’t question                                               
                                                               what Pahn is doing
in these pre-dawn hours
but takes a more than friendly
                                                                      interest in him

She assumes command                                                                         

becoming
                                                            Lakhehsis

And they are soon joined
by Lukh and Theya
and Phthona

The older women                                                                                       
take the forty-pound roasts                                   
                        out of the refrigerator to warm to room temperature

while the others
                                                          check the yard

the lawn is patchy                                                 
from the drought
and riddled with mole-runs

Pahn
                                                               steps out to investigate
but when he turns around
he sees
that Uncle Lukh                                                                      
has already gotten the tiller
                                                             and plowed half the turf

Cousin Phthona is digging deeper                       
turning the soil                                                                                        
to a depth of two feet                                                                       

As Pahn tries to understand
                                                                  the electric sandbox
he realizes                                 that he has lost control

Hearing Phthona’s voice
                                                               assuring that everything
                                                                is being taken care of

Pahn decides it is no longer his problem

Leaving them
to their incomprehensible industry
he walks off
by the residential oaks
            and mixed begonias
            into the 
                           dissolving woods
                                        at the edge
                                                                     of their defined

                                                         image

.

.

Walking in an Abandoned House (June)

In      a scattered             residential

neighborhood

            of a small town

sparse

            and dark

            old and weedy

Pahn and Phaithohn       are thinking of Lakhehsis’ house

The house has been bulldozed

                                                            removed

There is raw dirt        

                     and large sheets of detritus

                 and a depression

                                             like a fallen-in basement

      Pahn and Phaithohn walk around it

                        looking for scraps of what it was

Pahn speaks with     Phaithohn and Aiks

Pahn doesn’t understand why

                                                            the house

                                                                                    was bulldozed

                        and why nothing was recovered from it first

Phaithohn and Aiks say that there was nothing of Pahn’s in it

            so it wouldn’t matter to him

but he remembers to them

                        that his grandmother’s cabinet

was there

            and it matched the buffet

                            in Nomioss’ house

                                    and he would have liked to have it…

                        …they have brought back the house from the air

                                                but it is empty

Pahn remembers a possible basement—

                                    searching the halls he finds

                        two bedrooms that he hadn’t seen earlier

            and didn’t remember

He finds a                          

black   

             cotton-voile   

                                                            pleated see-through                  (blouse?)

He imagines that a couple has been there—

There are couples that like to have sex

in abandoned houses

like in a field

            but less open

     sheltered

            but not locked

     out of view

          and almost safe

                                                            but not belonging to anyone

There is a freedom in it

                                    and a comfort

            temporary

                                    but memorable

                    new and different

in the context of an unknown history

Perhaps to make love is to entangle      someone

in the context

                                                of an abandoned past?

After a while there is wallpaper

                                                            and a little furniture

It is intricate and dark

                                                            reminding Pahn of Russian folk art

He comments on Lakhehsis’ taste

(which is nothing like her taste in another place)

It is interesting

                    He is comfortable with it

          It draws him in

                                                                        makes him feel like he has found

                                                                                                       something

                                    He leaves the bedroom for the living room

  and finds                         

                        the owner of the black cotton voile

                  walking in from the kitchen

Her shoulder skin       

                        is exposed

                and her legs are naked

                     and her midriff shows

                           and her thin black frill

                                                                evokes sex

                                     He is fascinated

              that a sense of sex would have walked

                                                                                    into this house

                                                            uninvited

                                    and having nothing to do with him

He doesn’t know                                                  

 what the other members of the family

         think of it—                                        

He is unnerved                                                     

     but interested

                                    welcoming

Otherworld Canyon

Pahn is by himself in a cabin

in his favorite otherworld canyon        looking

through private treasures

from his past with former lovers           He finds

a catalogue

of inflatable boats

and chooses two…

…He is with Aiks in a water store      talking

to a saleswoman

(who reminds him vaguely of Ahstrild)

They try out

boats in the flooded aisles

that lead to

open

water

 

They are trying        to decide among

the boats in stock

which two they should buy      Aiks

has chosen one       and Pahn

goes back to the cabin

to bring and show 

one that he has chosen

but Aiks points out

the flaws in his craft

and they choose another—

they try to determine if it has a motor

and Pahn is reminded

of another pretty saleswoman

he has spoken to earlier…

                       …at the sales counter    

Pahn has chosen a toy                         

boat full of chicken soup

The man at the counter gives Pahn

                   part of the carcass       but tells Pahn

                     he might want to throw it away

               to avoid the bones 

Pahn puts it in the soup

 anyway

saying                         that he always finds

bones in chicken soup

and he just spits them out

  

  Pahn bites into                                           

           the piece of carcass    and immediately

             finds small bones      which he spits

back onto the soup                            

        in a small pile                                      

and picks off

with his fingers…

…Pahn and Aiks are with Lakhehsis

in a theme park              or shopping center     they walk

 through gardens       and natural displays           At some point

 they are told      to move on      for some reason

by a female security guard    or employee—something

 involving water

 

Aiks and Lakhehsis go on ahead

and soon Pahn sees them

by a sycamore tree     growing out over a large pool 

with a ghost of Yahpehtos       Pahn joins them

and climbs the sycamore      where he breaks off dead 

branches 

The security person comes over       and tells Pahn

that he shouldn’t be up there   but Pahn tells her

that he felt compelled              to clean up the dead

branches in the tree

and that he is an arborist     so its OK 

She tolerates him                     and leaves  

Pahn sees from the tree      in the near distance

a beautiful pool

by a glass window

  of a building

 and walks there with Aiks 

 

Aiks becomes Ahstrild                                 

and comments on how      alluring the water is

and finally    as it is getting dusky      Ahstrild    says

in her girlish defiance

she is going in      even if it isn’t allowed 

Pahn imagines

how cold it is                  and says

that it reminds him of lakes

in the mountains

but what it really reminds him of

                        is a mountain

                      river

flowing

through granite

potholes

Ahstrild prods him    to go in

and finally         he decides to brave it 

Jake Gyllenhaal

and a friend   are sitting on a ledge

next to the window 

Pahn takes off his shirt

and wants    to throw it over to the ledge

but is afraid that  it will get

                                                    wet

 

He calls over to Jake                                                

asking him to make sure   that it doesn’t

fall in the water      and Jake

gets in  and swims

 into the middle 

Pahn throws his shirt

dipping it in the water in the process                          

and jumps in

 

It isn’t as cold as he thought…

…Later Jake                                                  

and friend      recount

trying to swim in an asylum/zoo

and looking for crazy women             wandering

 in their reconstructed habitats—

open

fields                

grassy pens

with casual

keepers…

…Pahn is in the store            in the building

behind the glass window                                          

and sees a series

of containers            like tennis ball containers 

with labels that tell the sequence of  who

        has shown whom    his cabin in his favorite 

otherworld canyon—Steinbeck

showed it to Claudette Colbert 

Claudette showed it to Clark Gable

and after a while

someone showed it to Aiks

and Aiks showed it to Jake…

…after the asylum

after the zoo

      after the swim

after Jake

and the store

but we don’t remember when

At some point      they are in

the city at night      on a road in Italy

 trying to find

a petrol station                                  

that Pahn remembers

                 in front of another building

and Pahn isn’t sure         what to call its color

if it is the red                                          

or the brown                        

or the orange                       

          of Max Lüscher’s color test …