Thursday, March 8, 2012

Now that we got that over with...


...something new. Pretty soon I will be taking down the Alphabet poems. But wait, there's more, albeit not necessarily in alphabetical order. What I am now working on is being called Near (and) Other Poems. I think. For now, anyway. 

Anyway, for now: 


Near

Outside we sense the natural law
in this town as it was first platted
houses by the river could snap
like a wish bone

on the hill the homes of the city’s
first families have stamped brass plaques and
protected designation: this far
and no further

expectation to move to the new
suburb that everyone else is in
built entirely out of boxes
weighing on us

photos and old clothes once lived in
when the pictures were still chemicals
on shelves, not even a negative
to resurface

with anyone’s fingerprints on it
you can never be too sure these days
by now you have probably touched it
oohed and ahhed and

given way without knowing what was
closer than your veins and skin almost
elegant the way it gets inside
like a virus.

2 comments:

  1. this is very cool how you capture the heart, the old part of the town center with houses snapping like a wish bone and the brass placques stamps..and then the new areas, not yet touched but soon brimming with a lot of new life.. i for my part love the old parts of towns much better usually..but sometimes the life can freeze there and moving on elsewhere...reminded me also of a big city where former "out-areas" are becoming the new in-areas...but that takes it probably too far...my mind was just walking around a bit...smiles..

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  2. Thanks, Claudia! I, too, favor the old parts of a town, and love the way that some of the forgotten and run down places get revitalized. I also think a great deal about motion and change and how they continue whether or not anyone notices. Thank you for stopping by.

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