at Length

Seismodiptych: Skyline Aftermath

—Ruth Ellen Kocher

Split and splayed

I come bearing

Ceremonies

I am a banquet also

A long table






***






A long table

In the middle

The Best Oranges

The Best Pineapples

The Antiguan Black is the best pineapple

The Best Pineapple is The Antiguan Black

We make conversation this way






***






We make conversation

Evening

From the top

Incomplete

Not either

Not somewhere

Some rooms dark

The lit rooms

You see a skyscraper






***






You see a skyscraper

As lines of light

Around rooms

Unlit and lit

Outlining

One another

Skyline lines

Beading beads






***






Beading

More of the dark

The smell of apples

So many have changed

To appreciate particularly

Abundance

Both branches

And trees

Will never go away






***






You will never go away

For years

It’s a unique claim

A golden opportunity

First green

Today

This fall






***






This fall

Start with some clouds in the west

In the late afternoon

Very low

Any storms

Again coming up

A small chance

I want a lot more of more

You will smell rain

Before you see it






***






Before you see it

I’m right here

The Queensborough Bridge

Everything is pretty much the same

It’s a long walk

No matter where you begin






***






Begin where you are

We were out the door

The rain never came

No night

Lasts

How many times

Have you hung

Your blue raincoat

There for the first time






***






For the First time

Again

This morning

I found prayer beads

Never prayed with

Not given to you

And so

I would have forgotten

At all

You were here






***






Erstwhile if you

Were here

A name

The color first

Comes to mind

As a favorite






***






Meantime a favorite

A sound say

Grinding stone

Not bells or ringing

A creak

A creaking

Your earth

Split and splayed















Ruth Ellen Kocher‘s most recent books are Third Voice, (Tupelo Press 2016), Ending in Planes (Noemi Press, 2014), Goodbye Lyric: The Gigans and Lovely Gun (Sheep Meadow Press, 2014), and domina Un/blued (Tupelo Press, 2013), winner of the 2014 PEN/Open Book Award. She teaches Poetry, Poetics, and Literature at the University of Colorado – Boulder.