the lead poem on Floating Poetry Broadcast #180, on Nostalgia
#longing #memory #nostalgia #remembrance #reminiscing #revisiitng #saudade #sentimental #touchstone #wistful
Quite a sight to behold: a woman of sun, reclining on the grass, in a meadow, abundantly recumbent, hair and limbs lush with heat
A frosted cake layered with cars and people, rosetted with gulls, points out toward quiet afternoon islands.
While the town sleeps and dreams behind me. And pined islands lay silently, invisibly off the salt-tongued shore.
The keys to the house, or car. The address of a restaurant. The grocery list. The name of a tree or bird or passing acquaintance.
How deeply are you living, friend? How sense-deep. How heart, and
Remember that one day you, too, will die. Will cease being here, in body, in breath. Will join all those
Blonde head under baobab. Sun under shade. You sit on an African day,
My body. Outstretched. On a deck. Between the Sky and the Earth.
It arrives on a warm white cloud. It arrives on soft rolls of ocean waves along a sand pebbled shore. It arrives on a bed
Sunny jaunts, now-and-again treats, with cousins, siblings; and parents along but somehow invisible.
Between the keys. Between the chords. Between the notes. Between the sound you make
Those many, sung and unsung, who gave themselves, often gave up their lives, to fight, in wars,
Motoring solo through the immense, silent, parted heart of the forest of Chinon. The birdsong air
Yes. And the rivers. The wind and the rain. The wildflowers. The marshes
The only thing warm tonight in the deep winter sky ~ and soon to occlude. The Wolf Moon, Ice Moon, Old Moon.