the principle of the epic poem

STAR-FIELDS

A monarch sails transparent air

over a sea of grass

toward Mexico cedars.

June hums softly into summer

orchestra – a Symphony

of Ocean River (flutes

by Apollinaire).  Broom-roots

of harmony brush copper tympani

with nervous splendor.  The principle

of the epic poem – Hart

Crane’s plangent part

for solo Jonah (sailor’s pipe)

merges with cat-gut chords

of choral hymn, Atlantean –

sagas of Everywoman,

Everyman (adze-edge word-hoards).

A stone spun from heaven... King

Tut’s meteoric dagger,

sanded to plow much bigger

meadows.  Star-fields of the tongue

flicker from familiar cave –

shape speech to love,

vault from worm-grave

to groves of cedar (almond nave

upon a flame-stream, evergreen

to save).  Pine-needles

tingle with seedling-

cones; wings fan (bright V-formation).

6.7.16

Lake Vermilion (sunset, 6.5.16)

Grapes in a landscape

Another topical sketch for Ravenna Diagram, ripped from these headlines :

Israel Aims to Recreate Wine that Jesus and King David Drank

Hope for Nefertiti's Tomb, and Egypt's Economy

ANCIENT AIR

Articulate inchworm, lifting

little arches across

King Tut’s chambers –

shape-shifting hero (glyphic

frogman), testing the submerged

crevasse for Nefertiti.

O Jealous Fertility

Goddess of the Wine-Splurged

Sea!  Accept our offerings –

these cracked amphorae

full of ancient air

& semaphore (dusty grain bins).

Do whatever he tells you, she

directed them; the wine

from prehistoric pine-

nuts will transport us into Galilee.

But you have saved the good wine

until last.  These grapes

are not Israeli types,

nor Palestinian; they shine

in the landscape; this is beautiful.

The purple embroidery

around your lips, my

Queen!  The fiery eye of Yule,

the burning hearth of infantile

desire.  A trim Beatrice

flickers through bound hay-

bales (kayak, limping up the Nile).

12.2.15