Sunday, 25 December 2011

starlit

.


Christmas decorations, Richmond Annex: photo by efo, 24 December 2011





frosted tears are they, on the face of the neon
liquor store clown -- starlit Albany
inversion layered reddish blue two
forty eight a.m. Christmas on the Richmond/
Oaktown drag
thirty two degree separation
from earth above wide arcs of white light
from cruising police choppers
search the sky







Chain drugstore exterior, Albany: photo by efo, 23 December 2009
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6 comments:

  1. Susan Kay Anderson25 December 2011 at 11:40

    This poem reminds me of Brautigan's poem with the creature (werewolf) crying his neon tears as he looks at the Ferris wheel.


    A Boat

    By Richard Brautigan

    O beautiful
    was the werewolf
    in his evil forest.
    We took him
    to the carnival
    and he started
    crying
    when he saw
    the Ferris wheel.
    Electric
    green and red tears
    flowed down
    his furry cheeks.
    He looked
    like a boat
    out on the dark
    water.

    I can't help him--can't help this creature with the pain or with the beauty. Helpless looking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. gamefaced25 December 2011 at 18:16

    hope you're having happy holidays tom : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. TC25 December 2011 at 21:00

    How did one ever manage to engage such a cool staff of elves, to help one counteract the multiple terrors of X=Mass?


    Susan,

    No one can help him. The carnival only makes things worse. The bright lights trick the tears into visibility. Out on the dark waters of the Bay, it might almost be possible to sink unnoticed.

    (Difficult keeping afloat anyway, in that tub of industrial crud... but what you can't see can't hurt you until you smell & feel it... wept the bewildered werewolf to himself, just as the spot lights caught him from above, not waving but drowning.)



    Valerie,

    A lot happier since slinking over to the gala announcement site for your brave new beyond-gamefaced project line.

    I believe I can already hear the dirty-faced angels chanting merrily in the hangar as they pick the ticks out of the pollution-matted reindeer fur, after that long arduous night flight.

    The perfect day for announcing the release. Let this be the beginning of a new world. Like so many of your great poems, the cover image stops me in my tracks. Who wants to keep following those old tracks?

    But really: I Think Louise Said It Best.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Susan Kay Anderson28 December 2011 at 16:05

    Tom,
    Do you think I could quote you on your words about Brautigan's poem (werewolf interpretation) as I compose my intro to Virginia Brautigan Aste's bio. that I am shaping up for publication? Let me know? lonepoethelloyou@hotmail.com

    Susan

    ReplyDelete
  5. TC28 December 2011 at 17:37

    Susan,

    Yes, that's okay.

    I'd like to see what comes of this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Susan Kay Anderson29 December 2011 at 12:52

    Thanks, o.k., it will be a little while yet.

    ReplyDelete