Papa touches down

MAZY SIMONE

Equinox : a bridge between seasons.

Nay, no night-mare;

articulate as horsehair

& as serviceable.  Musique de balance,

équilibre – night & day,

reason & faith.  Of summer,

d’automne... (mordant humor,

luminous grief)... Hey-hey,

giddy-up, Old Paint!  We galumphin’ to see

the Pope touch down, in D.C.!

Strait o’ Columba, maybe –

where turtles kick through tough gray

curves – like a mess o’ limbic pigeons

decorating limestone

from the air.  Everyone

behold her, now – mazy Simone’s

the River Queen.  Like Ariadne

with her golden seine,

or murmurous Magdalen

of sunburnt feet, she will meander

underneath each Maximus

(from Po to Eridanus,

Neva-Neva to the rusty

Don)... O Theseus, she’s mulish US!

Chart the way-way back now, Mary.

Through this labyrinth

of dinosaurs, a kitten’s

coracle will bless – make merry.

9.22.15

Rose pendentive

ALMOND EYE

The half-moon curve of the golden dome

of Temple Emanu-El,

so calm on Morris Avenue

in Providence.  Only an emblem

of transparent well-being – invisible ties

that loop us in a web

of lovingkindness... (hub

of the universe – clear Paradise).

You know – it knots your heart, whoever

you are.  Like the bursting-forth

of a smiling cloud, one 4th

of July, or 19th of September –

like that lunar opalescent gleam

toward autumn equinox,

when they shepherd flocks

of lambkins, & piles of pumpkins beam

like orange suns toward Thanksgiving.

Then you will remember

the anchor in the harbor

under the safety net – the sea-bells’ ding

for one lost sailor.  Radius of sound,

a palm leaf of repose;

her memory a rose

pendentive (over Indian mound) –

Ferrara iron, sounding to the depths

of pain & memory.

I am your soul, Henry;

that almond eye Pacific keeps.

9.19.15