Robert Rorabeck Poems

Ashes of yellow umbrellas hung from the skylight of a maze-
Where are you now? My children grow blind without your gaze

Memories of you once unappreciated in life's fast moving stand-
...

Warmness distills the waterfalls.
And I am in China waiting for my children
To return from the community bath...
There are arrows in the walls and no
...

Lost poem on a rope
So it is not really lost:
It is just a child not allowed to
Stray-
...

Perturbations in New Times Roman:
I am like a young girl, drunken on the street,
Almost perfected breasts momentarily ruined
By acne,
...

Do you remember the bicycle clutched to the
Cursive edge:
Not waiting to go anywhere,
And waiting for nightfall—
...

The fireworks were over
Whence they were barking for a Chinese Christmas
Or a Chinese New Years:
And my brother in law's dog has finally collapsed at my feet:
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Chartreuse savior, trinket of my eyes—
Coming to me in the crepuscule of Shanghai:
My purgatory sees its conclusion.
A knife flits like a butterfly over the flesh,
...

An acrobat in the high numbers:
Rainbows that taper and billow in
The towers of trees.
The land swelters, the maidens sweating,
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Wine is cheap and of one note-
The airplanes are but a whisper.
Your concerns are of others.
The alligators nod ceaselessly,
...

Fibrous tremulations amongst the cowslips;
Yellow and gold, hair of girls fanning summer banners
As the foreground for scavenging birds:
The lactant eye of lapis lazuli,
...