from the collection VARIETIES
OF VISUAL EXPERIENCE
Trumpets growing in
the rain,
Marilyn’s foam negligee
laid out on ice,
A tarred and feathered
bed frame
Suspended, on a hummingbird’s
head,
Outside the third
floor window—
Maybe never.
Regardless,
From this time on
they can be held
Without fear, envy
or indifference.
The size of the
white snow banks
When you were five
And no school, the
milk trucks’
Thick rumbling outside,
some stuck—
And the bright cartoons
All morning
Till the orange sunlight
in the afternoon...
Girls waiting to be
danced with,
Lined up in the shadows
of the gymnasium—
And the center of
the polished,
Wood-slat floor, lit
up
With the courage of
the uninhibited...
Your own thing risen,
Swollen and blushing
for a chance
To explain itself...
Her new body, soft
And shown to you alone
In the garage of a
neighbor
Who had moved away,
The moonlight, slanted
through the high windows,
Moving over her the
way you would
When your fingers
were invited...
Cities sprung up
Like gypsum crystals
Above horizons you
could travel to,
Abandon, rediscover
In another tongue
or climate—
Moist populations,
ripe with
Indifference to your
curiosities,
Ripe with the possibilities
of attention...
* * *
The changes, over
time,
Of everything you
grew too sure of,
And the vibrant constancy
To which you bore
witness
Through all your doubts
and tepid faith—
Despite all else,
These things, gladly...
Copyright © 2000 by R Bartkowech