A-76
an emoji of a half-and-half hourglass
an emoji of an empty-and-full hourglass
pencil shavings in a cereal bowl
seashells neatly labeled with Latin nomenclature
dozens of spice jars clamor for attention
around me people change like coastal climates
I struggle to cling, find ease in letting go
imagination begins to feed on itself
a biblical deluge in the first days of summer
feeds something no longer green
we drift into the Wendell Sea, surrounded
by fantastic whales, seals, and penguins
Latin names fail me, the local library
lacks proper and up-to-date field guides,
adjustable itineraries for the next year
“sands of time” is achingly trite, but
succinctly explains my curiosity about
my once-full portmanteau, mysteriously emptied
yet still heavy
with what remains unsaid
“In mid-May 2021, A-76, currently the world's largest iceberg, calved from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica.”—Wikipedia
[RK, 6/4/21]
359
Days (The Winter of Our Discontent)
although it is dread summer
I’ve carefully labeled the seeds
dry as an imaginary skeleton
edged furrows, biblical deluges
divination of meanings
harvest, and sowing
Conspiracy Theory Decried
this island in the waves
this footloose ship
this respite from the think tanks
this arrow dancing around the target
this endlessly creased road map
this seductive Möbius strip
this summa cum laude
this Goldilocks Zone
this elusive moment
[RK, 6/4/21]
Thunder
your chill is my storm
your lamb is my raccoon
your warm summer Mediterranean is my humid subtropical
reduced to fossil shells of Pompeian lava
these animals and plants follow us
and bang against the barricades
[RK, 6/4/21]
359 Days (Perception)
it excited you when I wrote to you about the ghost of Georgia O’Keeffe
I clearly pictured the muddy late winter Rio Grande in my mind’s eye
found valid interest in reliving once achingly in-the-moment moments
picked up threads dropped thousands if not hundreds of thousands of times
still reaching out for the memory of chilled high desert satellite nights
still clinging to the narrow saguaro shadow and fluctuating raptor silhouettes
[RK, 6/4/21]
Rain Shadow
the tsar was beneficent to sycophants
but in Yekaterinburg the Bolsheviks killed
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
your analogy of rain shadows and clenched fists
reminds me of history lessons, hard to forget
easy to fudge and manipulate
are you sure you want to rise to the occasion?
think of the myriad fungus clinging to the underside
of your best laid plans
[RK, 6/4/21]
The
Ashes of Joan of Arc
spontaneous combustion
leaves you with singed leaves
parted chapters, resolute footnotes
I know you fashion char and soot
into shapely chalks, make lists
of books you will never read
[RK, 6/4/21]
Colorization
if I minutely record vagaries of light and shadow
if I remember or think I remember moments
how does my perception shift so easily
between B & W, and the artist’s color wheel?
[RK, 6/4/21]
Sequence
decades ago I learned how rodent urine
was the vector for a prairie hantavirus scare
how mice pee virtually twenty-four-seven
and move around like claim jumpers
I’d forgotten all of this information until
you wrote about the return of your boomerang
[RK. 6/4/21]
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