11.25.2007

Winding down 2nd chapter of Fontegaia poem. Finally found some time to work on it.

27


Herds of autumn leaves like red-
gold seahorse-centaurs race now
(ceremonially) toward the ground.
The pennants of each neighborhood


of every hilltop Tuscan town strive
to outdo themselves. Cocky rivalry
of pennate foliage - circadian chivalry
of bagpipes, droning in a restive hive.


Numb roots of the trees still thirst
toward snow. In the centaur's heart
(a horse chestnut at the center
of the swirling hubbub's hum) a wasted


wasp, forsaken, crawls toward the border
of bridled boudoir, fainting, slow...
Ajax burdened with an axle-wheel,
a naked mule dragging a suitor's quarrel.


Omphalos moat, dawn water
for the dying. The river's fluting
now. Last leg of labyrinthine fling.
A drone flotilla (shrivelled to mutter)


accompanies her fluent aria
with muted paddling of tender feet
round aureole-knoll called Complete
(knot drawn tight; flight's last cry).


The mingled alloys of the leaves say
near, near. Profile of a referee
at apex of the cobweb-tracery
of Palio and round-dance (planetary) -


sliver-shadow of the solar One,
lanternglow of pulsing jockey-Jacques;
a morsel of the moon in parallax,
a ripple in the stream (yon Hobo's hon).

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