“…My grandfather crossed this sea in ’04 and never returned, so I’ve come alone to thank creation as he would never for carrying him home to work, age, defeat, those blood brothers faithful to the end…” —Philip Levine, from “My Fathers, the Baltic,” News of the World (Knopf, 2009) (from the archives, Seattle, 2014)
Tag Archives: Seattle
The Remaining World Away
“To live here you should be a friend of rain, and fifty with a bad job on the freights, knowing the freeway soon will siphon the remaining world away and you can die unseen among your photos— swimmers laughing but the day remembered cold.” —Richard Hugo, from “What the Brand New Freeway Won’t Go By,”Continue reading “The Remaining World Away”
Almost Home
“…My grandfather crossed this sea in ’04 and never returned, so I’ve come alone to thank creation as he would never for carrying him home to work, age, defeat, those blood brothers faithful to the end…” —Philip Levine, from “My Fathers, the Baltic,” News of the World (Knopf, 2009) (Am I almost home?)
Pike and Pine
The preacher preached the sermon Sinners bow their heads Sometimes I feel so alive I wish I was dead —Chuck Prophet, “Automatic Blues,” Age of Miracles (for an occasional series on reading in public)
That Piece of Sundown
AS FOR THAT PIECE OF SUNDOWN YOU’VE BEEN WANTING by Carl Phillips Like little forges for which the heart too often gets mistaken, the dogs run ahead of me, just out of earshot, across what’s a field, and then a coast: some stones, some sand. Funny how sorrow more often arrives before honesty, than theContinue reading “That Piece of Sundown”
Summons
ERASER by Charles Simic A summons because the marvelous prey is fleeing Something to rub out the woods From the blackboard sound of wind and rain A device to recover a state of pure expectancy Only the rubbings only the endless patience As the clearing appears the clearing that is there Without my even havingContinue reading “Summons”
Invisible Voices
“Catherine tittered exactly as if she had seen the point of some invisible joke: but then she noticed that the truckmen had forgotten to set up the speaker’s table, so she excused herself very politely, gaping out at her father-in-law her diligently attentive smile with earnestness and breeding that his intestines publicly croaked. The fatherContinue reading “Invisible Voices”
Space Conditions
“We postulate that man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biological state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole. This postulate, agreed upon, gives us a standard evaluation. Is a proposed course of action conducive to realizing space conditions? Art, science,Continue reading “Space Conditions”
Solstice Groove
Some (somewhat belated) shots from a Seattle Solstice Day parade as I get my summer groove on here in the Emerald City.
Chris Bronsk 