Sunday, March 8, 2009

I wrote this poem to read at the Loeb. It's based on this piece by Agnes Martin. I hope everyone's having a good break.


Some Tricks I Can Do with Squares

Hundreds of square geese
flying in tight formation.

A huddled group of prostitutes
on the grid of Omaha streets.

A sad square careworn
map of my most desperate fears

as they exist on the fields
and farmlands of my mind.

The fracture eye of a honeybee,
therein reflected a hundred ginger lilies.

A thousand of the lived-in
boxes of Hooverville,

cardboard apostles of desperation.
My first memory is a visit

to the stonebreaker's house. The hills
outside of town, square and neatly

arrayed. The son steps softly,
shows me their hammers.

Sledges for the reassembly
of boulders into rubble.



1 comment:

  1. I certainly like the poem. To me, the end and beginning seem unconnected. At the "My first memory..." line, that occurs. Could you intertwine the geese into the end, some repeated image to link them?

    It might just be me, but "therein" feels odd.


    I love this: "cardboard apostles of desperation." line

    good poem. you read it well.

    ReplyDelete