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by Michele Leggott |
dolce
oranges seem to grow wild in the bay that is cloud
carried by the wind there my boys swim out
of the easterly blow Haukapua they shout
the huff and the hook the kick and the splash
the green bay is full of their golden bodies persistent
ungentle the wind rides overhead as they trail back
for showers by the open window a towel on the pillow
sweet rhythms of the bach where they wake and sleep
to arithmetical Variations on shelter and a doorway
the performance of the sun at noon a memory printing
windmills under the canopy of leaves highly aromatic
days of no event but virtuoso growth how tall
they are how straight of limb what storms of noise
the keyboards take to be sure the game proceeds
gelling away
angel wings beating harder than ever light drumming
on skinny shoulders pertinent to select displays of
temper and charm it was always important to knock
with your elbow a dozen beer smoked kahawai something
to put on the table then to waer as little as possible
as long as possible to cat late sleep lots and sit around
talking in the dark remembering the buzzing of the bees
in the lemonade trees looking over at Paku so built up
big rock candy mountain on its estuary of song
hurricane surf that had to be swum hand in hand
under skies brilliant enough to discreate a cyclone
there is white sand mile after mile in loneliness
and crushed shells giving it a border of violet
we stop later for the golden oysters of Miranda
a nautilus
I put the children to bed and go out
hunting the ancestors the one who is afraid
of the night adrift tip there in his deep blue covers
the one who will curl between us so quietly
nobody wakes and he is safe I have left them again
unable to sleep and knowing their sleeping
is my return to the wide nets washing out in moonlight
they stir as the house gears down they call out
as I pass I call back I am there when they stagger about
to gulp water and pee they lock the doors I left open
and skim up ladders in their sleep I need them
they prevent my disappearance from the world
they bring me back howling overacting for my blurred
attention the cradle boat drawn out on the falling tide
slaying put
the girl on the fridge found her walled-up skin
but won't be without her magnetic babes they frolic
around her a sea of alphabetic cries AzGVw sLK3
yY hSPr fl0Op low on the feminine with a modicum
of consonantal drift you get the picture we get
the picture thrown around and stuck back baby baby
my sINGER Flips her fishy tail Mistakes I know
I've made a few the impossible back-arch her attempts
at keeping it all up in the air Citrus limetia rare and interesting
though worthless a horticultural curiosity which version
do you want three commas and a dash or four ellipses
following a special form of berry yes a hesperidium
what could be kept separate was never worth the bother
only human now she flippers every little morph
duke
the Nuyoricans went to Piano Beach and found tai tane
unbelievably gentle the messages were adjuncts
to their honeymoon performed in blacksand with a bag
of hot plums and a modesty of towels we clapped
the lipsticks untwirling on the front veranda at home
we waited for the remembered fragrance and we listened
for the old motors overhead in the long light evening
candy I call my sugar candy and the letters he wrote her
persist with orangeblossom snipped from the ivory lace
of her panniers don't forget to change your flying boots
she wrote him on the invitation thinking maybe
of this frangipani coming into flower on the porch
most admired veranda and of the hesper ride
his DC 3 still charters for our collaborating hearts