THE BARN
The right way
to approach
the broad side
of a barn
is with one eye
closed
and both hands
in your pockets
then start
whistling
to let it know
you’re coming
—Michael Rothenberg
____
Previously published in Rolling Stock
POLARIZATIONS
“A madman doesn’t need success. All he needs is a good hospital.”
Mohammed Mrabet
Experiment is an accident
no matter how carefully planned.
Can’t you see
I’m walking
between abstraction and magic
Because that’s who I am
The buffalo of the Great Plains
ghosting skittish herds
on Champs d’Élysées
under deconstruction. Supervised
by The New Pound Projective
Semioticians
and The Magicians of Jazz Street
Medicines & Mirrors
Weight gain & Hair-loss
Wallpaper of Hollywood Muse
Switching between Calvinist
projection and a drunken buffet
Call the doctor
or print your own magazine
Distribution is academic.
11/23/2000
—Michael Rothenberg
____
Previously published in Small Town
REDWOOD FLOODWATCH
Below the radar
Used up
I’ve forgotten
what to write...
Historically
Geographically
GUERNEVILLE
Redwood decks, a middle-class colonialism
I don’t write
when morning comes,
a bell, the terror of quotidian
Heaven in a coffee pot
Winter rain
90,000 W/OUT POWER
No, I haven’t forgotten
what to write. I have a list.
FLOOD LEVEL- 32 FT
RUSSIAN RIVER TO CREST AT 46 FT
“What’s your address in the redwoods?”
Redwood, “Sequoia sempervirens
A very tall, evergreen, coniferous tree
“Sequoia, Cherokee who invented Cherokee alphabet
Sempervirens means ‘ever-living’”
And beyond that:
A POT OF CHICKEN
SQUASH ONIONS MUSHROOMS
IN WOOD STOVE
Components
Constructs
“Native to coastal ranges
of southern Oregon and central and northern California,
having small seed-bearing cones
with peltate scales and unflattened branches.”
CREEKS SPILLS SEEPS FALLS
“Some Native Americans stripped bark off redwood trees
to gather sweeter cambium layers for food”
Hot tub in the redwoods
HIGH WINDS OFF PACIFIC BLOW DOWN
FROM ALASKA BAY
Donald says he’ll show me how to climb a redwood
Listen to wood stove
(Audible)
RED CROSS
Shuffle wood in stove
BLIZZARD IN SIERRAS
Dennis says,
“Do you believe it, you own all these trees!
“You own me,” I tell the trees
(under the stars)
Begin again
Continue
Pretend
Preview
Vacuum carpet downstairs
“One of the survival strategies of redwood trees
is ability to sprout from bud tissue called burl”
HIGHEST TIDE OF THE YEAR
“If a tree falls, logged, or trunk damaged,
the burl can be triggered to start sprouting new growth”
EVACUATION
(Audible)
“The sprouts use the root system
of the parent tree and are genetically identical”
Who’s to say they’re not the same tree?
NEW YEAR’S EVE IN THE DARK
Past
Present
Future disconnected
Who wears a hat?
Who discusses this?
Who is? (In the immovable grove)
scratch twitch scratch rumble
NO WAY OUT OF THE CANYON
madrone oak tick black tick toc creek
green mossy coffee mug
“Second-growth redwoods often grow very fast”
CONDITIONS WORSEN (AUDIBLE)
“Often, stumps in old logged-over areas are ringed
by smaller trees that grew from roots of parent tree
These rings are called ‘fairy rings’"
gray hum
Opossum stalks creek with walking stick
MUD SLIDES ROCK SLIDES LAND SLIDES
Submission
Natural O-Currency
EVERY DAY A NEW DESTRUCTION
Needles clog the gutter
Quail scratch bark mulch to find seed
fallen from bird feeder
DEAD DEER IN THE SLOW LANE
What war?
Which war?
Is it ever a good war?
Fog on the deck
What door?
The open one?
What for?
The war?
NERVOUS EYE ON THE HIGHWAY
Oh, The Redwoods!
This New Growth
door
Go ahead, open it!
Frogs!
(audible)
BLUE SKIES
Blue Jays wake the morning
Yes! Come in! Sit!
I’ll be right with you
There’s a war I must finish!
I will win it shortly
December 19-28, 2005
March 3, 2006
—Michael Rothenberg
____
Previously published in Golden Handcuff Review
ANGELS SLEEP IN PEACE!
Angels sleep in peace!
Devils stay past midnight
listen to Paganini
Pretenders, King Of America, Heartless Liars
Have you heard them playing 8-ball while reading Content’s Dream?
Did it matter when the Army closed
imagination’s terrifying halls to Strategists of Art?
No, it doesn’t make sense to matter
No explanation needed for transfer of funds
from one pocket to another
For those Charlie Chaplins entering data, boiling nouvelle shoe leather soup
Supping on Valentine’s Desires and Therapeutic seasonings
It makes sense
Angels sleep in peace!
Devils stay past insomnia
& possum scud across the roof
Listening to accusations of the trite and trivial from Fashion Fascists
Reveling in accusations of the ideal & naïve
soaked in gross dependencies & mother
Have you heard them in their drunken dance
on granite floors,
in the rhythm of Sisyphus?
Would it matter if Superman
disappeared in his glacial fortress and forgot about Lois Lane?
No, it doesn’t make sense to matter
No explanation is needed for the transfer of sperm
from one pocket to another
For Cryogenic Automatons taking surveys & grants, boiling eclectic dialectics
Gorging on Cornish hens & Sweet & Low
It makes sense
Angels sleep in peace!
Devils stay past gunshot
& sweat soaked orgies
& tender whisperings
Have you made up your mind,
in those white silk gowns,
hair loose on freckled shoulder,
licking your own nipples,
raising your naked ass to four impossible walls?
That I should be persuaded by repressed exhibitions of genitalia
Does it matter when crisis rings
the death of a poet & saw-grass fires kiss his naked guilt?
No, it didn’t add up to verse, or wake the angels to salve the clawing innocent
No, it doesn’t make sense to matter longer
No explanation needed for the transfer
of one fish from one
Amazon to one aquarium
on a bookshelf on one hill above Pacific shoreline
For Game Hunters tracking down genuine tears & renderings, boiling conceptual logic
Mounting vanquished language of invisible jaguars & hornless rhinos
On walls…
It makes sense
For those lazy drifters beneath the stars
2/21/98
—Michael Rothenberg
____
First published in Kickass Review