bereft or adrift? breadth or width?

` '

not sure exactly? perhaps hindsightedly, what the previous
poetic "tote" was trying to achieve. it began with a distinct, implacable
or shall we say distinctive intention... the Symbolic,
somewhat pointillistic approach didn't quite develop
like I thought it should.

the weekend arrives, dour, deepening realm,
unwilling to depart with foresight. and us?
they say you like to do your own thing, go
your own puzzling romantic way. lay down the statueque bikini,
let go the pride and imprinted zeros. remember the ancient children,
boys and girls carried by the seven rivers of the underworld.

meet you at the LC - 1823?
the BS - 2059? no confirmation necessary...
my love.

poetic tote for an idealistic friday morning

'

bliss? uneventful footsteps, spreading like
an assembly of emblems and roses ready
to bloom. the garden traps an immigrant
in its turnstile, flight is destined.
the field, with hydro wires and termites,
consults a lone dark window in an office building late at night.

the parrot repeats. men sweeping
in the morning on a distant roadside
do not hear, take the hamburger and fries.
frites, another language might say.
a symphony tills the edges of a skyscraper,
vinegar rubs its own self-inflicted wound.
a woman, who climbs and climbs, never looking
up or down, ascends the blade of a circumvented
helicopter. there is wind.

the fencepost potrays a raindrop
beneath its colouful wings. the immigrant
shelters a family with magazines and packages
of gum. a child reads,
listens with parrot-like obedience,
parody? then, consequence is oblivious
to knowledge, readiness they might say
in battle. a pigeon not eating green olives,
an old man descending to a park bench.
acorns shouting like parents at a hockey game.
faster, over there, get rid of it!

the ideologue (part III -- near Labin, Croatia)

. * part 3 of a poem already published in a well-respected
journal -- this is the draft version of course* . though i think
it may be retitled --- RIDE and RIDICULE

The bus cannot be painted, he says.
it is always moving, side to side, or rolling
raucously, and it rains when mouths are open,
when dips in the road elegantly flow.
"The bus", it speaks slowly, on and on
with an insurmountable flare... i'm alone now,
like another man, sitting at a window in a blue t-shirt,
twisting a cigarette package,
his adroit nervous fingers
unable to reach that greater pause. The length
of his emotions growing shorter, shredding
like a forested hillside that hovers above
a newly carved gravel quarry.

The bus cannot go faster, he says.
This highway is lodged between steep repeating hills,
is as gray as the chimney of a meek village chapel.
It moves like smoke undaunted, like three pines, tall,
sparse, peaking from the apex of a treacherous corner,
it turns like rare food in a weary traveller's stomach.
It is a bucket of conversations,
two businessmen squeezed together, (behind me),
cajoling the prospects for another seaside hotel;
a young girl, cell-phone tucked within a pillow,
promptly saying, or so it seems
from an acute angle, i'll see you soon.

the bus cannot be inert, he says. his accent,
though it is not local, replies like an autumn morning
amid a dearth of luminant steel.
The sun, slow to arrive, commisserates
with a cool fog at the end of a long canal;
the road, its agony unknown, a skeleton
stretching from century to century
to gasps of quotidian time... I am alone still,
breathing lightly, reading a map,
(an arrival plan), believing the Roman Amphitheatre
and the bus station in the city of Pula remain in the places
they always were.

buying that CAR. right now?

`
I'm not over-awed by this contusion
of fear and financial decorum. I'm
not trying to wait for any subsistence
LIKE a lottery winning, or death.

at some point I will find the dotted line,
the space where my signature is less
evasive the smile for a child
whose tears have only just subsided.

a long way from Lourdes

.
where are you going?
where do wish to go?

finally, it seems, the answer is less mutative than the flow of Westernized lead.
gold, a machine that makes your little toe feel the consolation within the wind;
there is relevance in a time stamp, in poor timing.
can you repeat the name of the place again, please?
Encore? how much money do you have? how much
can you get? I feel badly about bringing you
into this world. this province?
the taxes are worse when you cross the border. there are no fences
for finely chopped herbs, these are the products of a soft hand. a moon
that emphasizes "the light" and nothing else. gravity is a link,
a contagious spell the young will never avoid. did you pass
'that strange' baton to the daughters and sons of your friends?
do you have another generation?
i am concerned for the conscience of random summations,
for suitcases in distress. Some say,
Belinda is a dictator. I plotted a coup for the Marxists...
I flew like a cormorant. This is what they eat when the island
in Rice Lake is cleared by Zebra Mussels.

do you own the SE model?
how much did you afford?
these crackers are stale -- this jam, not as sweet.
I discovered these little locks and pop-off things
do not work without automation. i can open the garage
from the next street over.
I can discern my ability to swim
by staying in the medium-fast lane.

Someone, a middle-aged man perhaps, is accustomed
to the fit of an old-cold speedo. This fabric is gratuitous,
generous. This is a leather-wrapped steering wheel.
I paint dots, small circles, from the outer atmosphere
a score of army invaders, red and blue
like malfeasance, or habits that can only get worse.
I prefer the skies of Renaissance artists... a convertible
of the mind... are you sure you don't need these extra
options? let's invoke ourselves a little playtime.
i'll pace this anxious showroom while you make your decision.

no rushing please...
I can deal this for you in twenty minutes,
your credit will be approved. you'll be burning
fire in far-off places
by the middle of next week.
Cut down trees,
Belinda is a dictator driving
an out of gas Hummer. I've played
both sides of the leftist argument.
I've played
random consultations
with grievous enemies.

Didn't you know this would end with a question?
You walking out the glossy showroom, shaking your head
and the hand in your back pocket?