for Rachel M. & Durban
#Africa #baobab #baobabtree #birds #blonde #body #durban #feathers #flowers #roots #shade #southafrica #sun #vibrant #vivid
After you uncork him and he appears in a serpentine of white smoke. Before he grants you
While the town sleeps and dreams behind me. And pined islands lay silently, invisibly off the salt-tongued shore.
Good to mark it each year on the world’s calendar. But I celebrate it every day.
Of my family name. One day, 150 years ago. In a Castle Garden where Jenny
Yes. And the rivers. The wind and the rain. The wildflowers. The marshes
Back in time, a romantic era of English Time, they used to send a son or daughter off
It arrives on a warm white cloud. It arrives on soft rolls of ocean waves along a sand pebbled shore. It arrives on a bed
A sure sign of soon-coming Summer. Another sweet, salt-aired Summer.
Those many, sung and unsung, who gave themselves, often gave up their lives, to fight, in wars,
Who wore a green plastic visor the color of a ginger ale bottle. Who had a raspy voice and Charles Coburn kind of face. A forever bachelor
Burnished at first, then blemished— an earthly foreshadowing. Then bearded for a while.
To ask your Self. In the still of the night, whether bright-starred or half-mooned. In the midst of the day,
Motoring solo through the immense, silent, parted heart of the forest of Chinon. The birdsong air
Circa ‘50s Wichita. Your mother, Gladys, going for her blue rinse,
Fog pours in through the half-open windows. Fills our small bedroom by the bay. Pools