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Collected Poetry
(rd king dot net)poetry and digital art
The Big Picture
Groups of short poems.
A Trip Toward the Coast
1: Drift The lavenders' lavender sprays like a lawn being sprinkled. Wind through the pines. This June light. The lavenders' sprays; the lawn being sprinkled. A butterfly swaying on the butterfly iris bud. 2: Being Eddy I liked the fertile resonance my life then possessed—the time on my hands; the loose change in my pants pocket; the kind way the sun brightened the angles on your pretty face. 3: Sand and Foam Sea palms rocking on the rocks. White water swells and backswells— the continual agitation reaching for my toes. I found some seashells on the shore and a finally cleansing meditation. 4: At the Lagoon Ocean spray masking the summer's heat. The wind keeping everything in motion— an idle afternoon with children at the woody lagoon. Dogs in the side channels; the children's soap bubbles burst by the swaying reeds. 5: Privilege I found a condom on the beach. I found a leg bone. All morning I fancied Jesus as a speeding boat. Choosing a pebble from the water's edge I changed its location. 6: Carmel by the Sea 1st of July, the village swells with perfunctory anticipation and fog; those for whom the ocean is a rare delight gather in clumps on the main beach and marvel. The old woman, the local, whose pleasure it is to jog the wet shore, moves quickly through the throng. 7: Ocean Frolic Water playing on the rocks, water prancing; water racing upshore like boys from their mother—hydro- dexterity. A small swell quietly rises, and with a slap, surprises his brother. 8: Day at the Beach Her disarming breasts, a cut foot, the endless patience of young men in wet suits; waves. A day at the beach—beachlight; the pseudo- munificent gesture of the ocean's exquisite offerings. 9: Soledad Something growing there on the alluvial fan; something domestic. Something also in the exchange between agriculture and the left-alone. Lettuce, cauliflower, the elusive in neat geometrical planes. 10: Seen and Not Seen I found a bird nest by the oak. I saw a water snake in the creek. During the hike my mind slowly emptied. Only later did I note the photograph I had just taken. 11: Shift, Uplift Hiking now on the knuckled ridge. Dwarfed by the jumble and exposed tectonics— wearied by summer sun, embellished by the wind, to that ruddy place where the uplift rises in ribbed cliffs succinctly toward something. 12: American Summer Stained glass window in the side door of a lengthy motorhome. Pin striping, trout decals, the allure of the open road. An ancient relative with cigarette and cocktail bent armed at the dining table, regarding the rush hour crawl. back | ToC | next
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