Black
Vesper's Pageants
i. morning departure
‘When I admit defeat, how many
do tremble on broken states,
transit thru earthy storms,
reverb this telephony in stone room
echo, a brilliant sway of decay
& accumulation
propt without accent,
to simply express those tat-
tered ribbons off the tongue swept as
if fallen blossoms into piles
swirled with crushed butts
while final caeruleus winter
breaths burpt eruption from
albescent Hudson; a million
ripples are terracotta warriors
of the heart where fine crystals pulverized
by touching lids sealed her eyes.’
ii. mount bulbous
Then walled spring, its pin & scheme,
slung against abrupt tongues
by glances gash where sprung
slits widened
under diminution:
cloud forced on sun.
Elias disguised as Ernst Curtius directed
focus to wire spokes
retained marvels, heapt
the dust of
old skin dissolving onion paper
mingled for a sum
all spray back ashtray wet scents
rode autumn wind up avenues. These hearts leather
crusht to pliable exchange
in creases in contractions & expansions,
once as if forever struck.
iii. lower fulton
‘As feeble is, so crumbling follows
wherein arrangements of tin cans
dislodged from lustrum strata strode,
impeding glossy rolls, imperial laminators
shuffle spin thru gears:
piece work
prospects neatly stitcht by orange markt
descent. I am mosaics of colored glass, which
linger like aftertaste & rare cold
cola burn on winter evenings.’
There, in perilous leaned triangles, barge
bound slabs of a present dismissed
regain altitude, effect for Elias.
Curious traces limn in lines, deposited;
these past granules forge forward hard glow.
iv. acer sanguineum
‘A portable solace links to broken
fiends whose chains in coiled curl lap
sand toward the end of breeze.
Athienna’s foot follows a creak inside, falls,
old pine floors: epoxy fills gaps between
the hard edge & infinity. Dilacerated
arms skinny brambles roam swaying
turnstiles, shadow prongs;
this last formal hug, hands on heavy
wood---one small chest for your dust
both ground & blast---
slopes where interment
is bell tower foundation, so we
bend: each step, an inch of passing blown
passion from a crane’s choked howl.’
v. track work
Beams tangle, lush
moon scraps bounced thru checkerboard
window transparencies made by night’s
interior strips...their awful
sag would separate stone....
The simple flat remnant
table:
sand burnished monument,
peeling by sneezed nor’easter, pure granite
from a frieze of troubled eyes,
all layers reveal this uneasy plague---
Cortlandt stop (stationed aside as if) reworked trestle,
golden spins rust garlands, autumn
stricken virginia creeper, dazzling Elias with
loops limp, impermanent glory like worn parlor curtains.
vi. hand memorization
Elias saw shadows already
etched where margins once stood,
far along the pictures appeared for
a first thought,
‘The strain of stars holding up
sky flung & suspended
deep cobalt cloth where these
push pin specks prevented enveloping
decline under midnight fabric.’
Raised collar like cat fur alarm,
made potions his charmed eyeful:
Rose edges
unfolding
bathe skyline turned back,
a bed prepared its lost regrets of
night. So highlighted we caught his lazy steps,
in shuffled gait along
Battery’s south cove.
vii. terrace overcoat
‘Wearing labors, the climb thru pooled
stagnant warm air, carved tile
caverns
dynamites slow brush strokes
coughing out our steamed throng
these desires to touch webbed under
stiff wires, empty space, excavated square
the same barrier
as we pull beneath excuses of
exhaustion: Justin Case wants off
the process. Absolutes obscure glaze,
those hollow throats staccato forte
for apologia mimic raw bodies
covered to recover under heavy cotton mesh:
closed eyes tread where flesh scrapes....’
viii. inventory a
A hapless squander,
ten seconds off the pace of
plastic deception
where window slits suck
light out tower attic---
sluice white tongues in turn
around aroma from
squeezed beans which right
themselves on air stream
shafts, guiding me thru the only two
turns to the right in
a left world’s descent.
Pure granite moorings leapt
like stilted clowns
maximus pantomime behaviors
under particular masks
thru atmospheres that such could streak:
she, he were every two...
ix. unfortunate humors
‘Hard to right, a blue tint of scar,
useless eyes up our amble,
... late flashes; nacht by candle or
halogen strip beneath the dome
these straight poles bellow
off key & piercing, to puncture
drums, thin stripes of blood loose
like sideburns
& the song drew close
paddle steamers while rocks kept
simple faces.
None sealed me but
mumblers, equivocators, to tumble from
the clown throne; their moist descendent lacquer
met with laughter, certain & yellow.’
x. the main channel
‘& great risen green bumps on
American plains, eruptions across flats
struck original wagoners weird: here &
they dig now thru unsettled dust, by time
to mask our unease no smooth tangle done;
supreme steady currents grind
mound to pock:
this hollow scrape
if to rebuild
shapes, expansions
monument
to blank eyes (or) quiet fury.
Bequeathers of Indiana hills, those who
knew it best to move along,
were not erased under new designs.’
xi. pyramids-on-hudson
The air is full of whim where Elias walks,
half sun distrustful of earth below
slow, slinging clouds;
safe but salted winds, a thick mist
pulpt out from overcast sag covers
his descent on thistle paths where toes
clench, curl under the mumbler...
‘this free willdom, right.
whatever gets you thru the tide.
& all steep nutters ride bluish to glade
prize; tho ringlets silver dangled
down, these natural tricks decline.’
An emblem or disguise layered
like sod over those tall rounds
as a slight
release of uneven droplets
polka-dot concrete.
xii. change coming at hour mark
Under each eventual twilight,
the piles Elias saw reduced
to flat abstract bumps, spectral
contrite & fish scale granite
thimbled backhanded kisses,
strained heat suckling flies.
& how those pink-eyed minnows
wormed thru ice, looting breath,
pulverized sediment plugged intake
stir, almost mutt congealed,
as striations blended
even neutral space
leaned toward a pole.
This special code, blanched of spot-
light, sank beneath green boiling
whitecaps, drowning sequel steel.
xiii. crooked inlet
----it’s all absorption, pal, the pencil said,
what ties these streets to gutter
traps: the suck being the essential
act of human progress.
‘Composite
ballerina manufactured by
leach fields & spills of ash pool, dust
in a crevice of downshaft
sweeps.
Dreams of mop & squeegee
pulled out
a rough, ripe reed bared to me
under exposure to the pounding until
melted matter breaks down,
once or twice or endlessly.’
xiv. ‘they aren’t foxy to me’
‘Weightless as automated barn owls in head
twist & hollow bones, a rain fell---
this decent mist torcht street lamps
icy glaze when evening bankt
winding hawk loops & spirals.
Skylit flares: droplet sparks
crept over me like stray orange gray
strands, orchestral light bands.
Stoops empty
caution.
Sparer lingering flowers
left demands
like them scared
or eaten giving
commands to their consumers.’
xv. inventory b
In black beginnings, a possible stench
quakes thru reductio glass & repositioned
dust: the faint remains of concrete &
steel draped like blankets
tent the super structure of old kitchen chairs.
Implosion accentuates each creamed gasp
all-over underwire, skeletal tapestry
supports blackt out pockets where
eyes once held their towering
music--for at blank faces a new
worm, curt or shapeless but sharp cuts,
boring cylindrical shafts, felt silence...
them not to evolve to Chippewa
‘the noise of passing feet
on the prairie...’
from ice descent
from Mandau, Hidatsa eros to
calendars & copper & conduits to stars, inverted novas...
xvi. horses at the gate
Those ragged forms of perpetual shade
within inverted rounds
whose dots appear on slow radar rotations
invited a fog-less glass to shine; Thespis
masks worn like tint top obscurity
in reflection---the echo sight’s
hollow gasp slid from eye to mouth
where she turned back their slight
praise fortuna joints unaxled, wobble
or release each skull
against walls. Their deep excavations
returned scattered shards,
bits of pictographs or small ceramic
blades serious but overwhelmed,
& armored stalks
revolted against wind sweeping entry.
xvii. the identity of seedlings
‘All motionless display, wings pinned
in fold where Athena was habitless
yet chronic flight inspired: treeless
greenless space, a tundra of shattered
concrete. Woke her, a sudden flash
of ornithological maneuvers over
empty squares, meticulous of sand,
mortar trenches & barren earth saying,
---so often these areas left to their
own despondency will return
a chorus offering milkweed, bracciliah,
nightshade & a few choked evening-
primrose. Lately her lacerated
hands have left digging to other
badgers & relied on flock reassurance.’
xviii. covered span
These ruined bridges still poked
for sky, a scalable brown, a twisted
iron. Time outside drawn with clever
hammers on each pulse---so pulling
in new breaths Elias floods
along this dive,
trimmed by steep heel to toe steps,
the almost stumble ate out urgency
with slices, & the coiled trail of a
serpent infused with rich embroidery of diamond
eyes; an argyle blinding
where placed feet connect
subterranean
arcades (Its pounded vaults
crackt though the mound intact).
xix. slight streams breaking granite
‘Behold the rock fur settled lush
& damp, majestic brillo forest-lime
carpets strapt
over curves by this path
where none walk but run
gravity
sea-driven to complete
each nook or basin eddied scrape
twisted arched & tunneling limbs
tear earth like fingers thru lode,
forced embedded bluestone chunks
signature struck
with brush descended
paper terra tree level (read)
the character swirls
& slashes left
a clear stroke:
indentations where history
deciphered by giant eyes
(or satellites)
launched the makeshift capsule.’
xx. inventory c
The crisp wit blurs under the candles
tubed glow.
Elongated light lumbers
like a dying bear
out too long in the winter.
There snow drifts on white strands,
the beaded sheets blinding and
dragging the head down.
(I) rent a fire of broken
breath,
the worn emblems:
rebar, sand,
dust, water
(heat more than fire) settled
beneath unrolled sod pleasantries.