Saturday, March 6, 2010

Grace #4

A smoky gray evening fraught with the black-headed grosbeaks & moths—a fountain bubbling with transparent water time is just passing thru a semi-truck on Highway 95 blacking out the poppy orange sunset for one instant—a sleep disorder a marble statue of our Lady in a shrine past Buffalo NY a white sundress dark hysterical sunglasses a breaker exploding on the rocks at Rockaway, OR like an HO Union Pacific freight in an N scale world

There was a row of Chinese Elms in green Vermont light you don’t remember—there was a whitewashed brick building muralled with trellised pink roses—there was a bowl of yellow curry an American Spirit cigarette a wooden table outside the coffee shop a Calla lily you don’t remember—time is just passing thru like a white Plymouth on a 3:00 a.m. interstate like the cirrus clouds in white sundresses outside a wood-framed glass door

Just passing thru—a red tour bus a blue ghost light a silver ring a black & white canvas awning a blue jumper an embarrassment of reflecting pools lined with white quartz a paperback Apollinaire leaning on a pine shelf the tart odor of linseed oil on an August morning under a sky-blue sky the stars’ shattered glass—the catbird’s marimba trills the sparrow’s natural harmonics a statue of the Black Madonna in an upstate gift shop a china bust of the BVM underneath a dormant poplar in someone else’s hands the same Our Lady of Mercy icon a lullaby goodbye an aluminum full moon sound wave

Jack Hayes
© 2010

7 comments:

  1. Love these images, especially struck by the "embarrassment of reflecting pools" the "aluminum moon" the the "calla lily you don't remember."

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  2. Hi Karen: I'm just about to head out, but saw your comment--thanks so much!

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  3. fabulous words, john! all making an incredible wordpicture of "passin' through" - loved it!

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  4. Brilliant John.
    A Visit To Your Blog is always a Joy. Have Yourself A Grand Weekend My Friend.

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  5. Hi Jenean & Tony: Greetings from a Comfort Inn in Rawlins, WY! Glad you both liked this.

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  6. Wow. IMHO, prose poems are tough to pull off, but you did it here.

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  7. Hi K: Thanks! I like the prose poem form, but I know what you mean.

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