DUBLIN(STALKING STATUES)
Dublin...
my past stalks me
hiding
behind statues
when I stop
to think
& think
I hear a footprint
disturb the memory
of what it all meant
(& means no longer)
the dawning awakening
the bridges...the parks
dressing them
in sunshine
as if sunshine
were some new fangled thing.
I still following
the forgotten streets
that lead me
(always lead me)
to your kiss.
LONDON - THE PAST'S FUTURE
I walk these streets
Blake would have walked
as the rain listened
to his every thought
before it formed
into the terrors of tigers or angels
that prowled
the confines of his mind
rattling the bars of his human cage
end up at dawn
as the sun
far now from Egypt
touches Cleopatra's Needle
as if remembering
other times
other mind's
that held it
my mind
uncertain
if my footsteps
hurry into the future
or the past.
NEW YORK - HOW FAR A SNOWFLAKE WILL FALL
Among the canyons
of New York
a snowflake falls
in all its glory
as if a skyscraper
were a mere measure
of how far
a snowflake
will fall
before it sits upon
the tongue
of an unsuspecting
tourist
caught in the flurry
of snowflake after snowflake
obscuring his vision
of metal & steel
with their utter
simplicity.
AMSTERDAM - 'AND THEN...'
Seeing as it is
in Dutch
(I don't understand
a single word)
but the slap is real
(and hurts)
visible as a brand
that marks her skin
with his hand
persperation & spit
as her head jerks back.
We recoil in shock.
We gasp as he
tears her top off
buttons pinging
in the bright lights
leaving her breathless
& topless.
She is still
a still point
in the storm
of his fury.
We applaud
& clap.
This is too
too real!
Never have we seen
Shakespeare like it
unnervingly physical
as if our nerves
are attached to theirs
we flinch
with every violence
physical or emotional
here now
in the night's air
the actors
appear
in their own right
leaving the theater
laughing & loving
in their own life
Othello & Iago
seem the best
of friends
Desdemona is so
alive & lively
I kiss you & whispear:
'Put out the light
& then...put out the light! '
Under a canal bridge
one light winks
to another.
VENICE - EASY AS WATER
Venice...
whispered all about us.
'Water! '
it lapped
'Water! '
'I am of Water! '
'I am Water! '
it proclaimed
in a voice of centuries.
A mist
echoed the water.
A gondala
knocked against
it's mooring
as if eager
to break free.
A city made of mist
as real a city
as that made of bricks & water
unseen birds
turned into sound
the ghost city
taking flight
bells frightening
the air
as Venice
(dreaming all night
about itself)
awoke
& put on its clothes
of building & legend
became itself
once again
easy as water
easy as water
... and easy as water
we kissed.
PARIS - SE METTRE A TABLE
We made love
between screaming sirens
of fire brigade & ambulance
(as if we were either on fire
or dying)
& now a police car
screeching to a halt
just outside
our window
as if they were
going to arrest us
for our indecent behaviou.
'We know you're
in her so...come
out with your hands up
(keep 'em up)
where we can see 'em! '
Our dreams
being taken in
in handcuffs
our lust
being frisked
for hidden weapons
but they just went about
being police doing police
things
(only in French of course)
& left us
to our selves.
We got back to seeing
what a little tenderness
...could do.
Somewhere an owl
hooted
('L'hibou? Non! ')
close yet very far
away
but we did not
hear
as we were
asleep.
(My girlfriend was reading A TALE OF TWO CITIES by our honorable Mr. Dickens so I thought it would a far far better thing to do...to write 6 poems about the 6 cities I had experienced.)
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I love the leaps of imagination and the innovative sweep and scope of the title that binds them altogether. I like now one now another...and it changes as I glide through your words and inhabit first one and then an other city of the imagination as seen through your eyes. I like the 6 minute deadline and the acceptance of whatever will be will be...I tried it and it frees up the mind to settle on and explore whatever aspect it chooses to dwell up. It seems to say write now and just do it whereas I thought it would be constricting and I would never come up with anything. It's a go for broke situation and I like the openess it has to offer. Cool poem or is it poems? love Dee Dee(that's Wright...right!)