In Neighborhood of Piteuss

.Pahn and Piteuss talk
                                            and amble
in the blue light
              of a cloudy evening

through the murky small
           downtown streets
               They turn
into a small plaza
                               with a platform
                                           like a boxing ring
                           or a helipad
Climbing the stairs
                                      a stage
                                             they hug and remember
a past union                                                      

She is leaving her husband
and she is pregnant
Pahn asks                                                
Piteuss with some worry
who is the father

She holds him tightly
and tells him she
is nearly certain
                                    it is he

And they are both very glad
                                                          that it is Pahn’s

                                and not her husband’s

.

.

The Lost Child

.Pahn has gone for a walk
by himself
down the length
          of the valley
             on a straight road
through orchards
        and houses
          at night

Crossing under                         
the new
               modern road
taking instead
the old
                      deserted road
on his way                                   
to the ocean

He stops at a store                       
grey and wooden
poorly lit            
                          with too little room
                           for its goods
Piteuss lives there now                          
          She is sitting on a bench
and Pahn sits down to talk

She is not happy
                           and shows no interest in him
saying goodbye                                      
                         with a detached
sweetness                                    

…

The highway skirts the valley
along that recurring
range of hills
so dry                   
and rocky
            or covered with brush
torn up
                             by the weathers
                 stripped in places
cut deeply                                 
by ravines                           


Pahn meets wild                      
and enthusiastic               
young people
exploring            
                                    in this littoral wilderness

And Pahn goes
west with them                                 
toward the coast                                      
              through the dry pines
as the sun goes down                    
                                       in green and orange light

…

coming to the ocean                               

                       at a cove   in daylight again
looking out                              
into the surf
They see there is                                                        
detritus                                                        
that appears to be
           from a giant tea-set
perhaps
                               washed into the water
                        from The Boardwalk
Pahn knows                                         
             that in every storm
the sea takes a little
                                     of the firm land
and
                 it was only a matter of time
                                     before it washed away the rides…

…In a tempest now
Pahn has decided to go in                                      
and clean up this flotsam

The storm                                                           
is throwing balls of ocean
like comets                                      
or missiles                                  
into the shore

Wading in
dodging
                                  the airborne waves

throwing plastic parts
back to his friends                            

he reaches                                                                      
the teakettle                                             
caught in an eddy
pulling it to safety

But as he wades
back to shore                                    
the teapot becomes                                      
                             a small pail
and there is something
wriggling inside

Looking              
into the bucket                                                
he finds an octopus                       
that clings to his fingers
                                     like a need
And
                                        when it is released
it runs                                                      
to the lap of a friend
                 turning into a little boy

This boy tells his story
of how he
                           and his little sister
got washed away
and how he
                       took his little sister
           and turned her
                                                 into a spider crab
                   putting her upside down
                                                                         in a teacup

And he says                                         
she is out there still…

…Pahn goes                                                                           
to a store
                             on the promontory
where the boy and his sister    lived
and puts the boy in a corner
                                on a mat
                                         like a dog
                                        where he is safe

but ignored by                                       
the owners/parents
who don’t seem to care   
about him
 
           and though they are sad
                            about their other child
they would make no effort
 
                                                            to find her
They appear to think
                              that one can’t                 reclaim
                    such a small child
                                                                   from the ocean

…

Pahn can’t bear                                                       
to leave
                               the girl in the ocean

He walks along the shoreline path
to the next cove

passing through                                
along the way
a small shopping center
                 with a safe enclosed area
                 for children to play
It is new and                                      
                                     crowded with joy
There are happy                              
                 caring adults
                           in the stores surrounding
            and Pahn is impressed
              by what a good job
                they have done

                                        with the playground…

…He reaches the next                                            
cove
little different from the last
He dives in                                         
and opens his eyes                         
under the water                                                                           
trying to see   anything     floating
that might be a spider crab
or a baby

As he swims
he realizes                                                       
that he is    slowly
being pulled
                  out into the ocean

Afraid of the tide
he swims across the current                                   
to where                                      
the water is moving
                back toward the shore
Soon he touches the rocks                
and tide-life again

He makes a thorough search                             
and though                                  
he finds many spider crabs                               
hanging under rocks                
none of them     are little girls        

…

Making his way                               
onto the shore                    
Pahn is now                                                               
a strong and stocky
middle aged
professional woman—
                                                        an archeologist
looking at specimens
of spider crabs
                   under glass with the fossils
                                                                   and minerals

she can see the rings   on her own finger
with the precious stones
that she has found over the years
the treasures                                     
of the tide-pools
 
                                            Quite alone
she is thinking
of her search
talking to herself
she says                                                                   
she could dissect the dead crabs
and send them
to a lab
                 to see if one of them
                                   were that little girl

but it wouldn’t help now
because they are dead

And she says                                                               
she could go back                               
into the ocean
to search some more
but the ocean is too vast
and the crabs
              too hard to find
and besides
The girl would be a creature                    
                                               of the water now
                                               of dreams
or the subconscious                              

and couldn’t survive                               

                        the light of day

.

.

Poems

.

…leaving Leenaiyos
and Kohmohss
without discussion
Pahn rides his bicycle
into his old district neighborhood

Blossom-hill

Oak-meadow

the tracts
that supplanted the orchards
forty years before                                                            he knows them well
                                                              these dark and wooded roads
                                                              of Eithnia’s neighborhood
with their tar and gravel
and rounded curbs
dewy lawns
and daily papers
                                                             almost
                                                              like the damp fringes
                                                            around a pond
He rides to the grocery store
                                                         meeting Aiks
                                                        who takes him to Nordstrom’s

He sees Pitteuss    and Pluta

He is looking for long underwear
                                                          unable
to find his size       embarrassed
wonders if                                they are wondering why
                                                         he is not at work   and if they asked
he would                             
                                                      explain
that he has an appointment
at 9:30—

he looks at the clock
It is time to go
            he tells Aiks

and he walks
                                                  into the library

The priestess comes
but Pahn can’t afford her beauty
and can’t afford health                       
so
                                                  goes back to work to spend
                                                                         time with Yaohwa…

…Athehna comes out of the winery       in the rain
Pahn is surprised
                                          that she has come to see him
                                                                             In bad weather

“There you are”
she says
“I read your poem”
and she hugs him

He knows it is because
                                     of something she saw

but in a moment           
                                                                  he realizes that he is dreaming…

…Standing with Egairia
Pahn wants to give her
                                                            more than conversation

all he has is a poem of a dream
                                                                                           and he knows
                                                             that she doesn’t read poetry
so


quickly
oddly

he conjures                    an African sea captain
 
                    who walks
 
                up the
                 stamped 
           concrete
                     in a Greek
      hat
                   buttoned
       coat
     and
                  greets her

He will interpret….

.

Channels

.

In the mixed green
marshes of sleep       trying
                   to understand the         waterways
               that wind under         bridges
                    through the                 grass
and willows
      Pahn walks
                           into the pavement
of work
          passing the           elephants
and the bosses           finding
a place to sit                     
to let go
                 annoyed
                                             by the       crudeness
                                                   of the      coworkers
                                         and their     contests

In the warehouse       he walks                                                    
into the middle
where the people walk
like a stream
between the banks of equipment
and shelves of goods
with Daphnis who asks
if
it is OK to be there
and Pahn tells him
It’s where they should be
because this
                                                          is where the angels walk ...

... Riding in the wooded hills    
 with three angelic women
                                                             Vehsta is driving
                                                                      Ahlaveena sits quietly
and with Pahn in the back seat
                                                              Piteuss gossips sweetly

Now they are at a hearing
where
                                                          Vehsta makes her presentation
                                            and they are free
to return       deemed innocent

…

Vehsta is leaving                                                        
Pahn holds her head against his chest
in his arms                                         
kissing her hair
hoping she will know
that she is loved

They measure
                            the straight     road back
with a tape
laughing
and joking

And finally Pahn
is led
to a Greek ruin
where among the blocks and columns
Drew Barrymore
is lying
bathed in vulva light

And there he lies with her
hiding the remote
so that no one can change
the channel

…

On the bridges
with their balustrades
                                    over the sloughs
                                        and vernal pools
         Pahn mills    with the people
                                of nature
                                        among the      middle aged
angel men
stiff and identical
like avian gargoyles

of gray stone

.

.

Waterfall

At the end of the road

unpaved parking                          

                        safety tape

   construction fences             

Pahn and his family find their way                          

into the riparian forest                                                       

to the ruined resort                           

an arcing bridge                                               

of cottages 

undermined              

   and tilting               

in stages of decay              

    and demolition       

Trying the catwalk                                                           

Daphnis

unbalances the boards                       

  sending Pahn                         

   into the river                         

He emerges dry                                                

and walks back to town                       

In the old commercial district              

                         buildings dark  

                                                     blue            

                                                         green               

                                           brown

                            Piteuss drives by               

                                              parks     

                  Pahn walks up to her car        

                                              She gets out                            

                                  with her friend 

                    who is short

                              dark

                              thin

        looking out

                        from her curly hair

                                                    at Pahn

                                                                         with curiosity

                        Pahn wants to give                                   

                        some pleasant greeting              

                        of acknowledgement

     But she doesn’t look at him again                                              

   and doesn’t smile                                                               

and so                                                                                  

he doesn’t feel                                                  

invited                                                

to speak

Pahn follows them                                                   

not knowing why

  trying to think of a reason                                           

  noticing all the while                                                  

how the path                           

to the river       

   has changed 

since the last flood…           

…They are swimming now 

Pahn is distracted                                

                              away    from Piteuss and her friend

by a waterfall

Pahn walks back toward town                                          

       He looks at the falls on a map                                              

   He follows a road to a better view                                  

There are cars parked                                                           

on an island

He doesn’t understand                                                      

how they have crossed                                   

                          the narrow

                            channel

without getting stuck               

When he swims out to the island                                                

he finds they are all submerged

Approaching the side of the falls                                         

he looks back                          

          to see Aiks                

            in an open corridor of stone

                       

                        hanging herself

                                                                            by a thin string                                                 

Pahn starts to cry                                                                  

and tells her

She’s making a mistake                                   

                                 cuts her down                          

          takes the string

                                 off her neck

and holds her

  Then they walk                                               

along the rocks                        

at the base of the fall                                        

where the water finds its ways

through the crevices                               

and grooves    

among                                     

swathes of flowers                                      

and Aiks says                                      

                                                “They are pretty”                                                                                                                                     

       as if she has awakened                                               

to red petals                                                

from a grog                                           

       of her anxiety