why is the edge always windy?

at Phromthep Cape   the edge of the world   my dress unloosened
                                   wind ripped along the coast                 drove along until it lifted
                         & we drove on jeep
                                                           around the roar’s extremities

( )

                                                the Thai curry   deepfried crab meat at Baan Rim Pa
                                                                        sweet mint sauces
                                   hung to our clothes as did rain
lawless waves clinging to cliff

                                                                        long tailed boats tear
the Andaman sea with their unmuffled motors
                                    soggy newspapers sopped up night’s moisture
                          clothes don’t dry here & matches don’t catch     only you were willing

(  )

i had lost a day coming to Bangkok
“love shacks”   “up to you” cafes
another life
gained

                        Paris   St. Germain des Pres   Rue Jacob   your reflection
on glass door walking toward me
                                                 through garden archway—
never such a beautiful sight!

(   )

to the Louvre   the bouqinistes
                                 we went tired & drunk from love
                        in the late mornings
this sub-terranean language

like discovering the hidden rooms in an old château
            we find our loves
                                                            —what i see
                        vastness and always water

(    )

silvery reflection of sky                      teal Jura mountains
water oozed   aqua laving over
how could i ask anything of you?
                                                            raining   the rose opens

can life be passed when life is offered?
            the vine will search the
                                                                        divine      quiet vineyards
                        roll in angles   grapes green & deep red

(     )

             this opal rain on linden trees   sunflowers
                                                            if i could bottle your voice
dappling mountains near church steeple & Romanesque rotunda of Lavigny—
                       did you call me this morning or was it a dream?

mother & child take shelter under church porch                    
clouds blanket the Jura mountains near Geneva
disappearing into light           
did you come to kiss me?                  

(      )

listen   the wind through grape crevices

& leaves

like waves upset  fibers tangled repeating

octaves  tongues perched

shaped in swan-light  bodies float
on Lac Leman at Buchillon.
i lie on rocks glowing as your chest
& hear water’s memory

(       )

les deux baigneurs frolic on surf board
algae legs dangling in water
it seemed a promise
the beach everyday unmitigated

                                                                                    lost    a black silk sweater
in Phnom Penh   riding on motorcycle   driver in front
                        you behind   your arms around me   darkness
& dust of the party-goers folding us                                      —where are you now?

(        )

                                     a pigeon windless
whaled up on my patio door
                                                  a wingless bird carrying
                                                                        unopened        wind-knocking door

 

Originally published in The Kenyon Review.