JACQUELYN POPE
Street of Endless Prayer
Under the orange arch of autumn
the weather of another life
Days count themselves
in rust in moss in scales
in stand-up hours
beaten across a brown carpet
Street of tram tracks and soapsuds
alley of second guesses
city of wish-I-wanted
I've been weathering you
your light like praise
rise and fall, fall and rise
without a word from life
City of past persistence
I have a room in your walls
a house made from stone syllables
from dust and sleep
hope make this ru ined house
a home hope sa lvage me
Gramarye
Underdrawn,
I translate herb with root:
aromatic, darkened,
drawn together in a do ubled cartouche.
Undermined,
I crawl the earth beneath the house,
watch heat fill cracks in the hardwood floor,
watch it pool, pu ll up and disperse .
