David Hadbawnik

Ur of the Chaldees

How long until we can just sit down
& write what we see? The children wait
for their names to break like waves & run screaming:
it's not so baaad ­ airplane strains for altitude
the clouds above ocean's huddled mass
the pelican endlessly scanning the thin veins
of the surface, the surface, as if all were conspiring
to keep it from us, the froth, Ur of the Chaldees,
ancient cities unearthed
by Disney & Superior Branding. But there is
a patience known only to shadows & the pleasant ache
of the lover. Who can say which way a shadow
will fall, where the moon will rise on any
given night, when the gravel will make friends
with the sun, when this pulse will run
from under your finger & find
its own point on the horizon
to vanish.

The cartilage of the wave has its own
principle, its own breaking point. And just
where we snap the back of sail that visibly
holds us together, moves forward is where
the dead dog's eyes enter the equation, so
beautiful like the unwrapping of a sandwich
all wax paper anticipation. The loose chevron
of the pelicans wobbles on the balance of
breath we play with in each other, as lovers
do, pinching it off, dabbling & taking
sips until slowly we get a taste of this
limited offer: Eternity. Throw a ball
on the beach & watch it "land" at one of these
conveniant locations. And do not get it back.

 

 

David Hadbawnik is a poet and performer who has published work in Skanky Possum, -VeRT, Cauldron & Net, and Electronic Poetry Review, among others. He has collaborated with several movement, performance, andmusic-based artists, including Mark Gergis (Mono Pause and Porest Sound),Tanya Calamoneri (currently with Ink Boat Dance), and Bruce Ackley of the Rova Saxophone Quartet. He co-produces The Moving Target Series, a program that features music, poetry, movement, film, and performance and travels todifferent venues in San Francisco.

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