4 Warm droppings on the pony trail; coins tossed over the pine railing ricochet across the stones. Silver and gold. Tin and copper Mine: meaning, belonging to me. Or, wounds made deep in the earth because of the longing for beauty— That deeper wound.
Outgrowth
[…overnight took some pills] which work with me pretty betimes, being Lord’s day, and so I within all day. Busy all the morning upon some accounts with W. Hewer, and at noon, an excellent dinner, comes Pelling and W. Howe, and the latter staid and talked with me all the afternoon, and in the evening comes Mr. Mills and his wife and supped and talked with me, and so to bed. This last night Betty Michell about midnight cries out, and my wife goes to her, and she brings forth a girl, and this afternoon the child is christened, and my wife godmother again to a Betty.
within the morning a cell
and all the afternoon in it
as midnight cries
bring forth a child
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 12 July 1668
Off
At the office all the morning. After dinner to the King’s playhouse, to see an old play of Shirly’s, called “Hide Parke” the first day acted; where horses are brought upon the stage but it is but a very moderate play, only an excellent epilogue spoke by Beck Marshall. Thence home and to my office, and then to supper and to bed, and overnight took some pills…
off to play the first
horse on Mars
off to be a dove
I took
some pills
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 11 July 1668
Hill Station
3 Everlasting: the name of a hotel on a corner near the gas station. Dark green trim, dim interiors. Curtains shutting out feeble light. Elopement: meaning the reservation made by my father for a niece who'd fled the wrath of her own with her now husband.
Hill Station
2 The roads, monsoon-washed; the buildings with '60s architecture and the newer ones with brick facades and neon lettering. The rain gives them the sheen of a black-and-white photo. Down the center of Session, the shadow of old street lamps arcing like the wings of birds over the artificial islands.
Day drinker
Up, and to attend the Council, but all in vain, the Council spending all the morning upon a business about the printing of the Critickes, a dispute between the first Printer, one Bee that is dead, and the Abstractor, who would now print his Abstract, one Poole. So home to dinner, and thence to Haward’s to look upon an Espinette, and I did come near the buying one, but broke off. I have a mind to have one. So to Cooper’s; and there find my wife and W. Hewer and Deb., sitting, and painting; and here he do work finely, though I fear it will not be so like as I expected: but now I understand his great skill in musick, his playing and setting to the French lute most excellently; and speaks French, and indeed is an excellent man. Thence, in the evening, with my people in a glass hackney-coach to the park, but was ashamed to be seen. So to the lodge, and drank milk, and so home to supper and to bed.
the morning is dead
but I have a mind to have it
like the evening
in a glass
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 10 July 1668
Landscape with scolding wren
through gaps in the hills
a river of fog
and me here on this wren’s powerline right-of-way
eating lowbush blueberries
Hill Station
1 Late July. A stone angel by the church door holds up its small basin which fills and fills with water. How old, how young? Its face hardens or softens depending on the light.
Punchy
Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning, and after noon to the office again till night, mighty busy getting Mr. Fist to come and help me, my own clerks all busy, and so in the evening to ease my eyes, and with my wife and Deb. and Betty Turner, by coach to Unthanke’s and back again, and then to supper and to bed.
noon fist
busy as a wit
my back up
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 9 July 1668
Acts of Levitation are Difficult in the Heat
The sound of hooves; horses pulling a float— Why they call it float strikes you as absurd. Its four wheels wobble on cobblestones. How many people glued crepe paper flowers on every side? A giant cake, on which children sit like statues in frothy clothes; except they smile and wave their hands. A woman cradles a skull in her hands like a bouquet. The sun carves scallops on every window. Each face accepts the signature of time. Lie closer to the floor where it is cooler. Dip a cotton square dipped in water to lay across your brow. The procession is just starting or ending. It begins and ends at the same place.