1.30.2017

slab of puddingstone



ALMOND LEAF

My lovely Providence, a microcosm
in the ruins of modernity.
Gray pebble by the sea,
colonial casque.  Slow periplum

around a clamshell iron rim –
like horseshoe crab
with buttresses, or slab
of puddingstone Bermuda-dream.

Today’s your birthday, spiny Jenny.
Evergreen of grief
& joy – almond leaf
of love’s firm spiral (funny

soul’s integrity).  You showed me
Piero della Francesca –
candid paisan Maria
pendulous with incendiary

monochord (trompette marine).
You showed me Providence
over your mother’s dense
grass gravestone (swan depression).

April is your azimuth;
mine too.  The cave
where Earth’s a voided grave,
where Berryman’s a vernal mouth.

Cicadas of Apollinaire
buzz over Île-de-France.
The veil of Adams’ Isis
tears – Columbia croons everywhere.

1.30.17

Newport, RI (near Berkeley's Seat)

No comments: