by Sherry Reniker
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THREE DAYS
Three days we have, Elaine & I,
for camping in Pennsylvania.
We have one book, some kippers & some eggs,
a tent, two knives, & lots of rope.
Into the piney furnace we go --
my love astounds me!
Elaine, your face lit up
from the fire of wet wood we gathered
could be any face.
But it is you, my friend,
who I have never seen so well before.
And do you know that I am anyone,
anyone as well as myself, & as a good?
No better these others than us,
& no worse, though they
have lost themselves
in cement latrines, while we
pee here together,
here in Pennsylvania, in the forest,
the man in the moon
(who could be any man)
showing us his face.
1967
***********************************************
TO FRIENDS
Love me better
than you are clever
/I feel
these distances
though spring will come
whatever, even
to us
*************************************************
THE CONNECTION
you come
like honeysuckle
in the spring,
she sd.
it is
these
natural things
we connect/
that
sometimes
your face
is a spider
web I walk
into/
the unexpected
-ness, & more
*************************************
FOOTPEDAL SHOES BLUES
(The Gypsy Was Gone)
1
Somebody got the blues
Somebody is me
I had 'em since I went
to Chicago, baby,
1953
2
Oh, I'm a driver of the Open Road.
Sail down these roads!
Close to nature,
Close to home --
flying Michigan's colors.
My friends are Truckers here;
not too many waves
from cars -- just kids sometimes,
a power salute or two.
Yeah, I'm a Burnt Orange Nova on the only Road -
from the curves of the ring in my western ear
till my toenails curl in my twenty-sixth year!
Gypsy Driver of the Road
My Stove-Bolt Six has
went,
gone
goed !
3
Left m love n I don't care
Left m love n I don't care
Left m love n I don't care
Right on red this morning
4
Daddy and I used to sing as we drove
Now I used to think that I was cool
Give me land, lots of land
Runnin' around on fossil fuel
Under starry skies above
Until I saw what I was doin'
Don't fence me in
Was drivin down the road to ruin
Don't fence me in
5
Colorado rocks
Kansas rolls
I want my arms
around you
**********************************************************
OKU-SAN
Bitter the incense
twenty years
burned
her
child-
denied-life,
denied a place
at the family site
until
mother-in-law's
death
**********************************************
NEAR CHINO
autumn dawn
a gallery of statues
in the birch wood
gazing at
the waterfall
a twig snaps
***********************************************
RIVALS
When I awoke a dresser stood before me.
Each drawer opened like an eye,
but none of the clothes fit.
The mirrors were empty.
Without blinking I hid in the closet.
How I longed for a basic black!
Discovering, __ah ha__, the false bottom,
I entered your closet without shame.
Your closet. I thought I heard you weeping.
Instead, it was the shadow you left on the shade.
I rolled it up and put it under my arm.
Don't expect to hear from me again.
************************************************
STOP
the whole thing.
Freeze-
frame it.
Take her out--
that figure--
lose the background.
Now,
tell me,
why is she
still
burning?
*************************************************
CHICAGO, BYE BYE
1.
feet,
white
bottoms
you
hid,
evidence
of her,
Punta
Gorda
beach
run--
tar
that
stuck
stuck.
2.
what'd been
clean? the white
starcht shirt?
stolid
Pittsburgh,
the perfect
cheese blintz,
her Skinner:
blind
alley or
your way
out?
3.
that onion
pride was
peeling . . .
your
Belmondo
charm--
first
love I ever
slugged--
struck
a vein,
struck
pig iron,
Chicago
bye bye.
*********************************************
PACIFIC CALL
my today is your
tomorrow
& crackling wire
that rain?
crack
the blind
lightning close
same moon
same ring of fire
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GEO FRICTIONS was published by Open Meeting
Books. Copyright © 1990 by Sherry Jo Reniker.
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