January 13-19, 2014: Nancy Shiffrin and Caroline Beasley-Baker

Rainy Season

hissing whistling leaky faucet
cars on the freeway my rushing river
do we pay for water?
sometimes a helicopter a siren
The Highway Patrol
guides a drunk right into my living room
"easy now take the next off-ramp"
a whinny in the distance
the refrigerator bursts into song

the ethereal greenness after rain when storms
break at dusk quickly turns to violet
a queer dullness foretells the next flood
platinum angels haloed unheeding
drive chariots axle deep in mud
tomorrow the sun will shine
the metaphysical wet brakes and ruined streets
will be forgotten on beaches

one circle of hell is reserved
for dogs condemned to lick old wounds
even after the scars have disappeared
for men who die fools
children with a corner on suffering
narrowly escaping I open the door
beckon the lizard “enter! rejoice!”

hoodwink/no kidding a kidder in 4 colors (a fable)

a trickster —
down-on-his-luck —
visits 3 bears . . .

(let’s call him sid).

a-long-way-from-his-cold-
home — he-knocks-at-the-door-of
his boyhood friend . . .

(it’s a-70°-xmas in bell gardens/ca).

sid
is undoubtably
a bad man

(at-the-very-least-a-con/a-cheat).

almost
everyone knows this
except for

the friend —
though i’m certain
he

knows but feels
a loyalty/an
empathy-for-the-wily-among-us.

sid-of-course can-dance —
so the friend’s-wife-moues/
makes-a-self-amused-exception.

& their-8-year-old-daughter —
well-she-simply-likes-him.
he has 1-eye/the-

other-made-of-glass: Sea-Foam/
Amber-Varigated-iris/a-dot-of-Black.
sid gives her

her first-bike —
a-bit-battered/
Tawny — with bejeweled

fenders/
a warning-bell/
streamers flowing-out from-the-ends-

of-the-new-handlebar.
she sees
the demon light

in-his-Tawny-proud-eye
as she —
a prideful natural —

is-bedazzled/riding-away-so-demon-fast.