TOM CLARK: Terence Patrick Winch: Displacement / Return Engagement

Waitress [Palma, Mallorca]: photo by astrid westvang, 31 March 2017

Terence Patrick Winch: Displacement

We think of going out

to Baskin Robbins

next to the 7-11.

It’s a humid August night.

The Duchess has died.

The Pearl is gone.

The men in black

dream strange dreams

in arbors green.

A pick-up almost hit an SUV

in the parking

lot. We both order nutty coconut.

The tip jar is overflowing.

We could drive all night

through Rock Creek Park

from dark to light

and inhale the summer

hanging by a thread.

We discuss Stalin and Hitler.

Hitler much more

out of control than Stalin.

Hitler not German,

Stalin not Russian.

Many Germans & Russians die.

Today the seas do not part,

the bushes do not burn.

It is too expensive to live

on the mountain top.

When the boats leave,

nobody waves goodbye.

When the villages empty out,

no one ever returns.

The woods are full

of starving creatures.

They piss outside your window.

The smell

pervades the house.

You cannot scrub it out.

Baskin Robbins / Dunkin' Donuts, New York City: photo by Thomas Hawk, 23 December 2007

Plastic bag newspaper retailing, 7-11 shop, Shek Ton Tsui des Voeux Road West, Hong Kong: photo by SunTsiuKee111, 12 November 2008

Rock Creek Park: photo by J. Maughn, 12 February 2017

Terence Patrick Winch: Return Engagement

I will come back some day.

I will break down the gate.

You must have a passport

and a letter from your sponsor.

The embassy must vouch for you.

You cannot look like a caveman

Or homicidal maniac. You should be

able to do electrical and carpentry work.

You have to remember all your professors.

You must memorize everything they taught you.

All your expired baptismal certificates

and official papers must pass inspection.

Your dead all must swear to support you.

Your ex-lovers must want to sleep with you still.

Rock Creek Park: photo by Mychacos, 7 November 2014

DSCF0334: photo by Joe Zellers, 25 November 2016

DPZM4371pe: photo by Joe Zellers, 25 November 2016

Street [Palma, Mallorca]: photo by astrid westvang, 20 April 2017

Prag Dancing Houses | by /Holger Blaskowski

Prague Dancing Houses: photo by /Holger Blaskowski, 18 April 2015

Havana: photo by /Holger Blaskowski, 18 April 2017

Ghost sign in red [south LA}: photo by Andrew Marr, 18 April 2017

Westport, NZ: photo by bobsan88, 1 March 2017

Okarito, South Westland, NZ | by bobsan88

Okarito, South Westland, NZ: photo by bobsan88, 17 April 2017

Plaza de Toros [Palma, Mallorca]: photo by astrid westvang, 5 April 2017

Bulls' door [Palma, Mallorca]: photo by astrid westvang, 5 April 2017

Berlin, Pankow: photo by Lyd.ium, March 2017

Berlin, Britz: photo by Lyd.ium, March 2017

't Eilandje, Antwerpen | by Pascal Heymans

't Eilandje, Antwerpen: photo by Pascal Heymans, 31 May 2016

Torrevieja, Alicante | by Pascal Heymans

Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain: photo by Pascal Heymans, 28 June 2016

2017-80. Crescent City, California: photo by biosfear, 3 April 2017

2017-81. Crescent City, California: photo by biosfear, 3 April 2017

2017-82. Crescent City, California: photo by biosfear, 13 April 2017

Dragon Village. Alameda, California: photo by efo, March 2017

Bellisima Creations No. 3. Richmond, Calif.: photo by efo, 26 March 2017

Tree [Richmond, California]: photo by efo, March 2017

8 comments:

Lally21 April 2017 at 08:15
Brilliant, and timely, poems...thanks for posting Tom...
kent22 April 2017 at 01:39
TC, I think the cousin of that last tree lives at the end of our block. A woodman knows these things.
TC22 April 2017 at 02:47
And here's the funny thing... that last tree actually lives at the end of our block!
TC22 April 2017 at 03:28
A pollarded tree crying out to the heavens -- "Y?"
VINCENT FARNSWORTH22 April 2017 at 06:01
Thanks for the fine poems. The dancing house (sometimes referred to Fred & Ginger, by the way) is a good example of how Prague's commitment to architecture continues even to contemporary times. I like to take visitors from the dancing house to a Roman rotunda about a ten-minute walk away, thus showing them the bookends of 900-1000 years of architectural history located in one small area. On the way we pass the building where the Czech paratroopers who assassinated Nazi protectorate governor Reinhard Heydrich made their last stand--the bullet holes are still on the wall around the window.

Rotunda: http://www.digital-guide.cz/media/thumbs/digital_guide/pamatky_by_divine/Nove_Mesto/Rotunda_sv_Longina/001_Rotunda_Sv_Longina_jpg_800x800_q85.jpg

Paratroopers memorial: http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/39647758.jpg
TC22 April 2017 at 11:40
Thanks, Vince. I thought of you (of course) the minute I found that brilliant photo.

Well, no, I thought, first, that I was seeing funny (again).

Then I said, Steady on. And then I thought of you, sturdy guide.

I think it's the angle that makes the shot so good, and the building so right, and the world so wrong.

I would very much love to see the bookends of 90 years of architectural history in one small area, right now, this minute.

I would like to be able to see six inches in front of my face, also.

(Touchstone: "A small reckoning in a little room".)

TC22 April 2017 at 11:45
Alright, make that 900, not 90.

Though 90 would still be a lot. As you obviously know.
VINCENT FARNSWORTH24 April 2017 at 00:59
Sorry to hear about your eyeball problems but you can still proffer these excellent photos for us all so...get well soon.

By the way, the church where that memorial stands is more of a 18th century cathedral, but it's not such a big 18th century cathedral and Prague is crawling with those anyway so I call it a church. Here's a shot with the door to the basement area where the paratroopers hid: http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/f9fe317ca38b4c52a7fba97d91f8200b/the-ss-cyril-and-methodius-cathedral-in-nov-msto-prague-czech-republic-c425kp.jpg

A bar called "The Parachutists" is across the street. I have not been drinking there.

Friday, 21 April 2017

Terence Patrick Winch: Displacement / Return Engagement

8 comments: