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.
