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Wednesday 9 January 2013

Frank Lima: Adoration


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Gaede's Wrecking Yard, Albuquerque: photo by Danny Lyon, April 1972 for the Environmental Protection Agency's DOCUMERICA Project (U.S. National Archives)


........................ Tota pulchra es, amica mea.


It rains inside of me.
Your picture is my wall.
My coffee is your blood.
The pillow is a morning glory,
With its impression of your head.


O my breathless soul,
The quiet servant
Clearing away the words
Of stolen cars.



Frank Lima: Adoration, from Milk #1, 1999

3 comments:

TC said...

Frank Lima interviewed by Guillermo Parra (Spring 2001)

Mose23 said...

The pillow is a morning glory
with its impression of your head.

Very delicate and tender lines. A beautiful poem; a caught breath.

TC said...

Happy that you liked this WB, thought you might -- and the luminous subtext as well:

Tota pulchra es (Palestrina, 1584)

"Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. Come away with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards."

(That does tend to vanquish the words of the stolen cars out beyond the desert reaches of the rearview.)