Eithnia

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Light                                      
fabric of attraction        straight
layered                                                                                 
fluttering   
distilled                                                                    
distinct                                                      
shades of blue       ripe         
berries from her throat              
white keys        thin                                                   
fingers   
                                                    the notes
sound          in          
the branches                                    
of green                       
                                  and silver        vermicula         bent curving
 
           woven

newts                                                
crawling                                                              
beneath us                 the damp                         
woodland floor                                             

spring drizzle                 
 
                                                         maritime air

through        
                       the windows
of caves                             

sweetens                   
our                  

arms    

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An Old Girlfriend

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     a family                                                                    
is coming in   as                       
Pahn finishes his dinner                     
with his comrades                      
at the back of a restaurant

The wooded canyon
with its floor of brown
and yellow ..bay leaves
in a blue light
like a sad and quiet love
cools
behind them

The members of the family talk and laugh
                                           subdued as
they find their places                           
and the last one comes smiling thinly—in his memory                                                                                
a woman from his twenties (Eithnia)
who he tried to keep
and lost completely
And a desire

                              like gravity
asks him     to go to her
and talk     while
                                                             a resistance—
                                                                     a shyness
makes him afraid

Pahn’s friends rise    and leave 
                                                                 and his reluctance is overcome

He goes to her                                                          
telling her his name                    
and explaining who he is
taking off his hat
                                                  to see if she’ll
                                                                       know him
      waiting for her reply

She looks at him and looks away

She has put her head down                                                                     

The sense                                                                                          
of her family’s conversation now                              
                            comes around the table
of a loss in the family

and Pahn looks down at her
                           asking with uncertainty

“Are you grieving”

And she responds                                                    
“Yes

My mother died

She died of breast cancer”

Pahn bends down to her ear                                                                   
with his hand on her back     
patting             
  and caressing

The fear from her body    and his
drains
onto the floor                                                    
and into the canyon                                                               
the canyon     that he walked in
alone and with friends—

the canyon that cools their lives
                       with its hard water and damp shade
the stream rippling soundless
in the blacks and the grays
of the wet gravel

and the dark flashing trout
that hide among the boulders

and her blue woolen sweater
that warms and soothes him

And his hands that were useless
to hold her then
cover her body with solace.

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Salmon

.

…out of an unremembered
                                              landscape
coming to the edge                
of a river
in the Inner Coast Range
Pahn sees     a ribbon of fish
migrating upstream

He wades in undressed
afraid of annoying
                                       the anglers on the bank
submerging his body
                                                 gently
the line of large fish
                                  bending away
as he swims into its path
               splitting         and scattering
               reforming     around him

their fins
and gills
           brushing by

their soft bodies
like children
climbing into his lap
          or friendly women
rubbing against his sides
         pushing
over his thighs
and stomach
as they     pass     through his presence

Immersed in their strong
and waving lives
enjoying their touch     
he floats                                          
mildly into them
        letting them pass over him

                                     and go on their way

.

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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….

.

Arundo Donax

.

          From
 
          Driving around the lake      on wheel-packed snow like
            sleigh rails        padded white trees    snow knives
          aspen branches      white lined    willows      and logs
                                                            crisscrossing the creeks
          Dreaming of
              walking in it    floating      thickening powder
                                                                                       layers
          From
               watching TV the news from Macedonia
          Dreaming of
                                    sorting out the Balkan peoples
                                                                                           Serbs
                                                                               from Croatians
                                                                                 Albanians
                                                                                              Greeks
                                                                                           Muslims

          Pahn lies on the bed
                            on his back      watching
                                        his shoot grow like bamboo
                                                                       like a rain stick
                                                                                      like a maple

                                                    shrinking only a little
                                                                                   with climax
                                         and growing again to
                                                                        the length of a yardstick
 
                            He calls to Aiks
                                       to come and see
                            She is amazed
                                            in a detached sort of way
 
                                            The pearlescent frosting
                                                                  overflowing the tip
                                                         soon covers it
 
                                                           warm
                                                       and pleasing
 
                                             the balanced scent of
                                       sweet
                                      rich
                                    and bitter.

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Shahn

.

Pahn has come to a rehearsal
a casting call     bringing his
need and seeing that Shahn
would play his lover   accepts
the male lead   He has no
interest in the play    no interest
in acting      no interest in
roles or lies    He only wants
an excuse to kiss her
an opportunity with her eyes

.

.

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

.

.

The Water Temple

.

Passing through gardens
in the glare of Roman marble
a haze of white light obscures the green
distance

concentric rings
of would-be fountain
are filled with blooming grass
of white-silver plant angels
surrounding
a statue of Egairia
that stands like Phidias’ Athena
in the place of the well

like liquid
a pale platform
of mattress
of shower
growing columns
and canopy
vines of sheets
around her

mounting
arms and legs
of cream
or baked meringue
lifting the roof of hair

the muscles
held
as if by a gyroscope
passing between electromagnets

.

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Monument

.

Out in the canyon lands
of Arizona
rain falls
like tines of a garden rake
around Egairia—
the standing rocks

Looking in her direction
a shower of small words falls
like drops
from a water wand
in circles
around her

Then the larger words
come from the clouds behind him
splattering
on the dry soil

and soaking in

.

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What is Left of Her

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Penelopeya
Is     six     inches    tall

She has gotten
                                                         into the drainage system
 
          Looking for an outlet
Pahn
                                                   passes the old foundation
           weedy
           low and sunlit
where there is a pipe
                                    jutting from the cracked concrete and
he removes the cap
                                                     to let her out

She jumps down running                                                         
out of view
                                                      into the wild
                                                        garden of her own
                                                       volition

under the vines                                
         and bracken
 
                                                      of untended
                                                                  side yard
.

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Pilot

.

Daphnis and Pahn
                          are going
                                                               to pick up Eeunks

They jump out the window
                              onto their toy plane
                                                                 and take off
 
                                                                            As they fly
                                                                                           Pahn helps Daphnis
                                                           with his model
                                                                                        gluing
                                                                                          holding
 
                                                                          feeling the craft
                                                 turning
falling          
 
       waiting
 
     “Daddy”
Daphnis says                                                         
without looking up                                         
“The plane
is going down”                           

“OK”
Says Pahn                                         
                                                                reaching
back to the controls
                                                               in time

But Pahn is too busy
                                                               to fly him
                                                               straight

.

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At a Loss

.

Going down Highway Three
on his way to Japan
he begins           
                        to gather words written
                      on construction stakes
                      in the dust and weeds
at intervals  

Bringing them home                  
                                                              he realizes
                                                            that they are all
                      inadequate

So he goes back                                
and pulls up                     
all the stakes         
on this stretch
of curve           
 
                          leaving their dry     lettered
carcasses             
 
                                                                  beside the road
                      to lie
.

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Irrigation

.

walking toward him                                                                                 
out of the winery                                                                                  
into the garden                Pahn is making connections                     enlarging 
                                             among the vegetables
as she comes                                                                              
a series of black tubes
and emitters
               running
from his feet                        
to each plant
Egairia                                                                                 
passes beyond                                  some are large and healthy
his line of sight                               others                                          
                                                      haven’t even appeared yet
not attached                                                                                   
to her tube                                                                      
                                                                                                 standing somewhere
                                                                                                  behind his view
                                                                                       Pahn hears himself
in the garden
muttering

“That’s the danger
in letting them get too big

when they get disconnected
and go away
they leave too big a hole”
                                                                                       “Well”
                                                                      he asks 
                                                                            “did we give her
                                                                                 too much water”
“No”
he says                   
 
                                                               with resignation
.

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