Tout était comme dans une image enfantine
Robert Desnos
it was all as if underwater: indigo
magpie
white white sky the coralline
sagebrush spiky with hoarfrost a copy of
Bettleheim’s The Uses of Enchantment un-
opened on a maple nightstand
a chrome guitar’s rattle &
whine behind a glass door
a green tinsel “Happy
Holidays” banner strung between streetlights
you can never set foot in the same room twice
a sea-change
the implacably lonesome Sonoma
coast March 1988 a Winston cigarette in Virginia’s
Valentine’s Day rain 1986
the creamsicle sunlight in
Malibu May 2000
today’s pale headlights at noon a
sea-change a
bass clarinet intoning “Full
Fathom Five” meditative but stolid
hope against hope
6 of one
will you go home for Xmas
will you go
will you go home
plastic dinosaurs an overdue
credit card statement you placed a
red leather bookmark between the pages of
The Complete Lewis Carroll &
forgot it
a naked cottonwood a silver
hay tarp like coming awake unsure where you are
Jack Hayes
© 2010
Lovely. I have always liked that term, "sea-change"; it is conjures so many pictures in my mind's eye. (I think someone we both know is going to love that first line).
ReplyDeleteKat
I really like this poem , John.
ReplyDeleteHi Kat & TFE
ReplyDeleteKat: Thanks--yes, it's a great term. I guess it shouldn't be hyphenated (properly, either two distinct words or one word)but I like it that way. I did change the first line slightly for clarity's sake!
TFE: Thanks so much!
A wonderful cascade of images and associations, John. As ever, a poem of captivating sights and sounds.
ReplyDeleteHi Dick: & thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love the different lights that come out of this poem - streetlights, cigarette lights, headlights, and that gorgeous "creamsicle sunlight". And the white white sky. The poem really does feel like someone blinking awake out of an uneasy sleep.
ReplyDeleteHi HKatz: There are a lot of lights, aren't there--I wasn't really conscious of that. Glad you liked it--thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis is really beautiful, John.
ReplyDeleteHi Tess: Thanks so much!
ReplyDelete