so many
pink tiny toys
and children's clothes on the line
even out of doors the books are musty
the Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer conducting
is warping in the May sunshine
in the cardboard box
the unkept offered to another keeper
hey I'll pay them to take it away
nickel, dime, gimme a toon for that
the broken laptop computer goes for a song
though it never knew any form of music
that tractor don't cut grass
the sun rises over stuff
not quite beat enough
to throw away
the exercise bike that went nowhere
the wheelchair of a dead sister
at a yard sale
anything will land
in a stranger's hand
a violin is playing Tchaikovsky
allegro moderato
a folk tune from a gypsy dream has squealed its way
through Russia's Imperium
into a Canadian day on Lake Simcoe
fifty cents, make me an offer
back home the record's cleaned
virtuosity gleams in a young girl's ears
her grandfather revisits Sunday evenings
at the Royal Albert Hall, his young lankiness crammed
into the poor seats up near the organ pipes
better to feel the heaven of rising things
she picks up his coin of memory
imagines a red velvet dress
fire-notes spitting from her shoulder
From Under Old Stars
(Seraphim Editions, 2002)
