poems from "Geo Frictions" by Sherry Reniker





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poems from GEO FRICTIONS

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





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     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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