Verse 2006

Distortion

The group risen
Left for lighted places
Where long swallows sit
Heads cocked for each
Transition.

Reliant difficulty experiences
Lots of reasons to find that interesting.

Distorted dialated music shrill shriek
against the auditory anvils, shaking.
Empty pool of silence bathes the
now still space, perculating unto boil.

A captive audience held shaken slept
between the singular voice and background noise.
Choice?
Replace that with monolithic passions.

During the summer of 2006, my job took me away from home to Evanston, Illinois, home of Northwestern University.  It is a beautiful campus, covered with the obligatory ivy of the last century, situated on a scimitar-like curve of strand where the terminus appears to rise hazily in the distance.  The Sears Tower and other landmarks loom at that end, and to the north one can hardly discern where the water meets land.  I penned a few lines as I sat next to Lake Michigan.

Glass Lake

Invisible, wave-penetrated
Motte–
Cardinal Cheval de frise
to summer’s green apron.

Phased pebbly
Chopped glass drifting
A sandy distance
Distorted line of the curve.

Between despondant force
Upright guardians shield shore
Flint fascades of founding stones
Lay lax among the bristled floor.

I sit, stare, stand, stump.
Supernova of expatriated discourse
From the linkage to the
Cockles and the seperation
Lengthens.

I traveled with some collegues, and we were together for the week in Evanston.  There are a number of wonderful places to eat, and I sat and listened a bit, talked a bit, and ate a lot.  Being the only male in the group was a bit strange, but they did their best, I suppose, to make me feel welcome.

Chicago

Gesticulated Greeting
Wedding, personal colors
     Note, good, children
Food – College
     Illness — Age
Travel.
Friends, Husbands, Pets
Work
     Work, work, work.
Friendly?   Likes & dislikes.
Do you FEEL out of place
          Eating with four women?

No, it’s fine.
Of course I do,
But I’m not going to tell you that.