This poem by Tobias Hill leisurely leads you to one word at the very end for a clue how to feel about it, but the word's ambiguity still doesn't absolve you from making up your own mind. Published by
SaltFrom the Bullet TrainAt the far edge
of the arclit terminus
an old man sits in the sunlight
between his backdoor and the tracks,
scooping white pumpkin seeds
from their yellow hollow
with a black lacquer bowl.
Beside me, the businessman’s wife
sleeps with her face averted
from her husband or lover,
not quite smiling. Silence
and slow motion. Her eyes open.
The pupils are
pinpoints of thought.
the carriage leans
into the curve of the track,
picking up speed. Zinc roofs
below the viaduct and blue smoke
from the piano factory —
passed in a moment. The sea
levels the horizon.
“Sashimi. Coffee or tea.”
The businessman eats raw eel
from a polystyrene dish
patterned with copper clouds.
I turn. Outside
a swamp town. Sluggish flats
of rice and buckwheat.
A horse and cart.
By its mother’s side the colt
running on graceless legs,
learning movement
to the sound of the wheel —
Gone. I sleep and wake only
when the businessman’s wife
touches my arm. She points;
bamboo blossom, that flowers
once in every hundred years.
Sallow flowers hung
from a sheaf of spears.
Das grosse Ereignis dieser Woche ist, dass Kathleen mit einem Preis ausgezeichnet werden wird bei der diesjährigen In Celebration of the Muse Lyrik Lesung, der ältesten literarischen Veranstaltung in Santa Cruz. Der Preis erlaubt ihr ein "Chapbook", einen kleineren Gedichtband herauszugeben, an dem sie die letzten Monate gearbeitet hat. Für diejenigen unter Euch, die Kathleen kennengelernt haben in Deutschland letzten August: Im Allgemeinen geht es ihr gut. Wie es gesundheitlich um sie steht wird sie bald genauer wissen. Sie hat Termine zur Nachuntersuchung bei ihrem Arzt in München Ende diesen Monats, und freut sich schon auf einen Abstecher nach Rom zu Ostern. Hier ist noch ein kurzer Artikel im Sentinel, unserer Tageszeitung. Auf dem Foto (Dan Coyro/Sentinel) sieht sie ganz ungewohnt erwachsen aus...
This weekend's big event will be In Celebration of the Muse, "the longest-running literary event in the county." My friend Kathleen Flowers will receive the "In Celebration of the Muse Chapbook Award," which allows the publication of a new collection of her poetry Call it Gladness. You can read an interview with Kathleen Flowers in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Dan Coyro's photo is very nice, but Kathleen looks all grown up & more serious then usual!
