from The Line
"The town, therefore, was garlanded with green trees, bright blossoms, delicious fruits and trailing vines . . ."
1.
morning draws it from bed in socks in soft pencil & squinting out
i know to the west of here is sea
2.
i dream girl-moth and embryo whale . how come how pretty : these tiny highways
inside-page the shovel makes . i trothed to : spit a seed and it grows
3.
this morning each bird's name tags behind it or hops when it hops
train whistle blowing : bandit juncos i'm stuck in fullsome prison
4.
the line pulls . blocky seams stack neat . sectioned torso of the tree i knew
robin's egg came into my hands without my willing : birthday 1988
5.
grey silk dress of uncertainty and i can't hem it
i find a feather-lipped nest on the west house wall : birthday 2010
6.
on foot the slicky travellers cross the field both ways
behind Willow behind Pine behind Dry Creek shopping cart bramble : green sword of guadalupe
7.
uriel's sword of green vines behind cathy becker's house
the river was somehow downtown filled with convicts mother-of-god trash
8.
some substratum of despair aquarium vitae . aquarium : i must have breathe : ad fontes
a point is that which has no part . a line is a breadthless length
9.
i petalled into bed bud did not become : a boy : a wind : everything
the line is even and odd
10.
how everything tasted . boundless equation skips . and add and add and add
concrete : tree bark : scab : skin
11.
a thingly quiet : some telling : all breathing : high above
the block hazed violet . i lined sprinker cantations : myself
12.
sycamore i thinskinned sycamore i . a spell for not harming . each
small palm in mine : woodpecker junco sparrow starling robin chickadee
13.
stranger hills are nothing a blue absence
Umunhum was watchful : my father-terror . the boys said they came upon the body
14.
the old lady's roses . i wanted to inside-name them : cynthia . agnes
beneath the peach tree the book depository . all winter i never knew : green pages fan untended
. . .
1.
morning draws it from bed in socks in soft pencil & squinting out
i know to the west of here is sea
2.
i dream girl-moth and embryo whale . how come how pretty : these tiny highways
inside-page the shovel makes . i trothed to : spit a seed and it grows
3.
this morning each bird's name tags behind it or hops when it hops
train whistle blowing : bandit juncos i'm stuck in fullsome prison
4.
the line pulls . blocky seams stack neat . sectioned torso of the tree i knew
robin's egg came into my hands without my willing : birthday 1988
5.
grey silk dress of uncertainty and i can't hem it
i find a feather-lipped nest on the west house wall : birthday 2010
6.
on foot the slicky travellers cross the field both ways
behind Willow behind Pine behind Dry Creek shopping cart bramble : green sword of guadalupe
7.
uriel's sword of green vines behind cathy becker's house
the river was somehow downtown filled with convicts mother-of-god trash
8.
some substratum of despair aquarium vitae . aquarium : i must have breathe : ad fontes
a point is that which has no part . a line is a breadthless length
9.
i petalled into bed bud did not become : a boy : a wind : everything
the line is even and odd
10.
how everything tasted . boundless equation skips . and add and add and add
concrete : tree bark : scab : skin
11.
a thingly quiet : some telling : all breathing : high above
the block hazed violet . i lined sprinker cantations : myself
12.
sycamore i thinskinned sycamore i . a spell for not harming . each
small palm in mine : woodpecker junco sparrow starling robin chickadee
13.
stranger hills are nothing a blue absence
Umunhum was watchful : my father-terror . the boys said they came upon the body
14.
the old lady's roses . i wanted to inside-name them : cynthia . agnes
beneath the peach tree the book depository . all winter i never knew : green pages fan untended
. . .
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CAROLINE KNAPP is the author of Facture (2015), The Hunters Enter the Wood (2017), and Tanzsprachen (2017), all chapbooks in the Little Red Leaves Textile Series. Her poems have appeared in Jubilat, CutBank, Verse Daily, KelseySt.com, and Opon. She left San Jose at eighteen and lives in Oakland.
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