David Highsmith
a poem
**
October Fires
1)
interior life, assigned to work its
prospect list, flattened soul-sense
to prolong a pumpkin’s flame
2)
new moon, sailboards in
nocturnal prospect
owl’s head at water’s edge
3)
rough seas bedevil circumstance
coincidental astronomy
“typhoons & crap” populate style
4)
next chapter, psychology
disconnects the bête noire
fertility, our window into fall
5)
it’s continuity, not rocket science
I push my arms into my sleeves
wait for the appearance of hands
6)
soup in a question before him
to watch his money leave the country
with winter coming on
7)
a social dimension to culinary
anticipation, what slides below
the flavor you’ve begun to expect
8)
no color to these ancient frames
or so thought one so young
no caption to her thought balloon
9)
our troubles simplified among these
pioneers, hummingbirds hover where
rivers meet, sepulcher in bomb light
10)
fold splendor, memory & no suggestions
l’enfance to excite l’espoir
hot nights without the band, as if
11)
recurs a turmoil of waves
sedate animals, tectonic
beings in the world around
12)
drift home to Greenwich mean
sleepy continent
jet engines on a cold day in Iowa
13)
expiation on every channel, no
residue, the afterglow of aftershock
“it won’t be long now”
14)
evil times among the clueless, “what
we are dealing with” all our
efforts--transformed into crap
15)
to shut a drawer as one
lights a stove, in one smooth
motion, the barrel of a gun
16)
her specimen, this day
gathered against an avid solemnity
her growing collection
17)
the whisper inscrutable
within the ways of providence
a mind to run to other channels
18)
ostinato, & a tempo to bind
these bodies, beats against
corollary, leads home to c
19)
he sat there an hour after dark
“it’s good enough fer you, is it
well, you’ll have yer book …”
20)
our range of motion, animal
fuel to grade the physical
powers beyond the bends
21)
no mystery in the mystery
of a pinata’s survival
a good and evil impulse
22)
gnostic, how you involve
a bloodstream, display & income
little moves within alliance
23)
little fires, failed journeys, the
Niña, the Piñta, now someone new
no month free of birthdays
24)
in the wedge of introduction
external tranquility
stamped and coded “home”
25)
the edge of a knife assumes your
shape, a world at your cheek, morning
blues to take said cheek away
26)
memory to model a solid earth
shifting rock on which to build
a future free of magnets
27)
animal & mineral, no more to laugh
at this pristine derivation, deep crap
to stand on bed-rock, bring it on!
28)
no reason to suppose, this
makes him happy, whose
time caressed a gory knife
29)
“red toboggan” cooed someone in
somebody’s dream, someone
careful to silence somebody’s response
30)
world to world in minutes, spun respect
a breath drawn slowly then exhaled
the actual figures of men and women
31)
no qualm within angst or clue
to the savagery that brought us here
let leagues and years prevail
32)
got to fill, now, somebody’s bed
someone enthusiastically exclaimed
in the absence of any actual anticipation
33)
no mere loss lets this machine
suck in love and spit out leaves
oak and maple in a lavender letter
34)
theirs was the flight of years
apocrypha in a quick narrative
grey fauns to run at our approach
35)
feathers to kill a man
our pleasure
in a pile of rocks
36)
look up to the heavens, the
sheer internal failure of it, our
time to come, a mended sieve
37)
no mere modification
allows these hearts
to keep on beating
38)
our pace, conspicuous
pedestrian grade to the physical
steep shot to start your boots
39)
our props
a map, a robe, a shooting star
vast numbers of infinitely small bodies
40)
improbity, a river
broken at the branch, to court
the moon, a bridge for sheep
41)
to fly all night
on imperfection
old machine made of sticks
42)
no voice in that
wild riot, what is this
if not some kind of love
43)
eat, sleep, a step—spontaneous
in all these sundered regions
and wanted at home for pancakes
44)
beyond the curtain
a paper moon, fabric
and flesh, mute nonsense
45)
right thinking, that
just a way of
looking, diffused
46)
beyond voice, he had
no illusion, a rush
of blood, then music
47)
her clue within magic
disappearance
an acceptable element
48)
a pilgrim’s chant
the ritual reanimation
factitious appetite for war
49)
fondled in unspoken
joy--flavor of the pastille
savory & torn to pieces
50)
desire ignores
the monkey’s mocking
voice inside bananas
51)
simply further
to the river’s path, arborvitae
beneath our own bad habits
52)
chest to chest, a tree
and its branches, fond
farewell to abundant nature
53)
subjection gargoyle, an
incidental surveillance
fruition, our standard deviation
54)
no mystery to the megabytes
burned, timed out, the
bounds of separation & division
55)
no clue to these mixed
numbers in an oozy blare, some
kind of love, postmarked Nome
56)
our nimbus in this meal
ensnared, a blessing wrought
for the benefit of mankind
57)
her alternative, mass transit
to take her hand, a private rite
her transfer & her way home
58)
October flare-up, smoldering
surface, sudden celebrity
beneath FEMA choppers
59)
grey smoke, insistence
of impulse, grey
suits in a rising economy
60)
infatuation, our skewed and
solemn service
anesthetic to this grey dread
61)
pixie sentence, our ultimate
course, these first small steps
down infinite stairs
62)
momentary wish, persuasion
sworn to love, specific expression
grown up in the vulgar convenience
63)
no mere savage
within the noble machine
dead leaves beneath them, dancing
64)
no clue in the clue of a body
Colonel Mustard’s parlor
midnight on the last day of the month
65)
house rules, the law
of method, seeks out
the buttons of a blouse
66)
symbols of salvation and redemption
a lullaby?
no, master, cut them up
67)
go shopping, body, teach us
in our very legs
your innocent character
68)
all nerves & newfound possibility
every being to have its own
rite of reparation and deliverance
69)
an early view, the sky’s own equator
reveals us in our lives and customs
instructs us in these mysteries
70)
this time, conspicuous
poured forth from the press
charity without reproach
71)
ecstasy to slip up close
to snuggle up to Babel, no clue
to this second date with man
72)
nearer the hearth, from Camelot
arose a stone, a pumpkin knife
passed to the player on your left
73)
Gideon’s army beside my bed
blood to the field
lest the Word return void
74)
who are these people, thus revealed
multi-colored markers on a board
each with a noose, a candlestick, a gun
75)
that which drove them, filled them
interior nature, a creature
of itself and of the other
**
return to sawbuck 2.1
**
David Highsmith is the proprietor of Books & Bookshelves in San Francisco. Recent poems are forthcoming in the Antioch Review, Beatitude, foam:e, and Mobius: the Journal of Social Change. His books include Poison in the System, Fragments from Bernard, The Chatterley Stanzas, and Catalina Island.
**
October Fires
1)
interior life, assigned to work its
prospect list, flattened soul-sense
to prolong a pumpkin’s flame
2)
new moon, sailboards in
nocturnal prospect
owl’s head at water’s edge
3)
rough seas bedevil circumstance
coincidental astronomy
“typhoons & crap” populate style
4)
next chapter, psychology
disconnects the bête noire
fertility, our window into fall
5)
it’s continuity, not rocket science
I push my arms into my sleeves
wait for the appearance of hands
6)
soup in a question before him
to watch his money leave the country
with winter coming on
7)
a social dimension to culinary
anticipation, what slides below
the flavor you’ve begun to expect
8)
no color to these ancient frames
or so thought one so young
no caption to her thought balloon
9)
our troubles simplified among these
pioneers, hummingbirds hover where
rivers meet, sepulcher in bomb light
10)
fold splendor, memory & no suggestions
l’enfance to excite l’espoir
hot nights without the band, as if
11)
recurs a turmoil of waves
sedate animals, tectonic
beings in the world around
12)
drift home to Greenwich mean
sleepy continent
jet engines on a cold day in Iowa
13)
expiation on every channel, no
residue, the afterglow of aftershock
“it won’t be long now”
14)
evil times among the clueless, “what
we are dealing with” all our
efforts--transformed into crap
15)
to shut a drawer as one
lights a stove, in one smooth
motion, the barrel of a gun
16)
her specimen, this day
gathered against an avid solemnity
her growing collection
17)
the whisper inscrutable
within the ways of providence
a mind to run to other channels
18)
ostinato, & a tempo to bind
these bodies, beats against
corollary, leads home to c
19)
he sat there an hour after dark
“it’s good enough fer you, is it
well, you’ll have yer book …”
20)
our range of motion, animal
fuel to grade the physical
powers beyond the bends
21)
no mystery in the mystery
of a pinata’s survival
a good and evil impulse
22)
gnostic, how you involve
a bloodstream, display & income
little moves within alliance
23)
little fires, failed journeys, the
Niña, the Piñta, now someone new
no month free of birthdays
24)
in the wedge of introduction
external tranquility
stamped and coded “home”
25)
the edge of a knife assumes your
shape, a world at your cheek, morning
blues to take said cheek away
26)
memory to model a solid earth
shifting rock on which to build
a future free of magnets
27)
animal & mineral, no more to laugh
at this pristine derivation, deep crap
to stand on bed-rock, bring it on!
28)
no reason to suppose, this
makes him happy, whose
time caressed a gory knife
29)
“red toboggan” cooed someone in
somebody’s dream, someone
careful to silence somebody’s response
30)
world to world in minutes, spun respect
a breath drawn slowly then exhaled
the actual figures of men and women
31)
no qualm within angst or clue
to the savagery that brought us here
let leagues and years prevail
32)
got to fill, now, somebody’s bed
someone enthusiastically exclaimed
in the absence of any actual anticipation
33)
no mere loss lets this machine
suck in love and spit out leaves
oak and maple in a lavender letter
34)
theirs was the flight of years
apocrypha in a quick narrative
grey fauns to run at our approach
35)
feathers to kill a man
our pleasure
in a pile of rocks
36)
look up to the heavens, the
sheer internal failure of it, our
time to come, a mended sieve
37)
no mere modification
allows these hearts
to keep on beating
38)
our pace, conspicuous
pedestrian grade to the physical
steep shot to start your boots
39)
our props
a map, a robe, a shooting star
vast numbers of infinitely small bodies
40)
improbity, a river
broken at the branch, to court
the moon, a bridge for sheep
41)
to fly all night
on imperfection
old machine made of sticks
42)
no voice in that
wild riot, what is this
if not some kind of love
43)
eat, sleep, a step—spontaneous
in all these sundered regions
and wanted at home for pancakes
44)
beyond the curtain
a paper moon, fabric
and flesh, mute nonsense
45)
right thinking, that
just a way of
looking, diffused
46)
beyond voice, he had
no illusion, a rush
of blood, then music
47)
her clue within magic
disappearance
an acceptable element
48)
a pilgrim’s chant
the ritual reanimation
factitious appetite for war
49)
fondled in unspoken
joy--flavor of the pastille
savory & torn to pieces
50)
desire ignores
the monkey’s mocking
voice inside bananas
51)
simply further
to the river’s path, arborvitae
beneath our own bad habits
52)
chest to chest, a tree
and its branches, fond
farewell to abundant nature
53)
subjection gargoyle, an
incidental surveillance
fruition, our standard deviation
54)
no mystery to the megabytes
burned, timed out, the
bounds of separation & division
55)
no clue to these mixed
numbers in an oozy blare, some
kind of love, postmarked Nome
56)
our nimbus in this meal
ensnared, a blessing wrought
for the benefit of mankind
57)
her alternative, mass transit
to take her hand, a private rite
her transfer & her way home
58)
October flare-up, smoldering
surface, sudden celebrity
beneath FEMA choppers
59)
grey smoke, insistence
of impulse, grey
suits in a rising economy
60)
infatuation, our skewed and
solemn service
anesthetic to this grey dread
61)
pixie sentence, our ultimate
course, these first small steps
down infinite stairs
62)
momentary wish, persuasion
sworn to love, specific expression
grown up in the vulgar convenience
63)
no mere savage
within the noble machine
dead leaves beneath them, dancing
64)
no clue in the clue of a body
Colonel Mustard’s parlor
midnight on the last day of the month
65)
house rules, the law
of method, seeks out
the buttons of a blouse
66)
symbols of salvation and redemption
a lullaby?
no, master, cut them up
67)
go shopping, body, teach us
in our very legs
your innocent character
68)
all nerves & newfound possibility
every being to have its own
rite of reparation and deliverance
69)
an early view, the sky’s own equator
reveals us in our lives and customs
instructs us in these mysteries
70)
this time, conspicuous
poured forth from the press
charity without reproach
71)
ecstasy to slip up close
to snuggle up to Babel, no clue
to this second date with man
72)
nearer the hearth, from Camelot
arose a stone, a pumpkin knife
passed to the player on your left
73)
Gideon’s army beside my bed
blood to the field
lest the Word return void
74)
who are these people, thus revealed
multi-colored markers on a board
each with a noose, a candlestick, a gun
75)
that which drove them, filled them
interior nature, a creature
of itself and of the other
**
return to sawbuck 2.1
**
David Highsmith is the proprietor of Books & Bookshelves in San Francisco. Recent poems are forthcoming in the Antioch Review, Beatitude, foam:e, and Mobius: the Journal of Social Change. His books include Poison in the System, Fragments from Bernard, The Chatterley Stanzas, and Catalina Island.
