DISTANTS

Gordon Hadfield

BlazeVOX [books]
Buffalo, New York

Copyright 2009 Published by BlazeVOX [books] All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the publishers written permission, except for brief quotations in reviews. Printed in the United States of America Book design by Geoffrey Gatza

First Edition ISBN: 1-934289-75-2 ISBN 13: 978-1-934289-75-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008933397

BlazeVOX [books] 14 Tremaine Ave Kenmore, NY 14217 Editor@blazevox.org

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Dan Beachy-Quick, Matthew Cooperman, Geoffrey Gatza, Claudia Keelan, Myung Mi Kim, Kyle Schlesinger, and Sasha Steensen for their generous feedback. Versions of these poems previously appeared in Fence, Denver Quarterly, P-queue, and Interim; I give my thanks to the editors.

For Sasha & Phoebe

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

THE NAMER BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY CROSSING THE WALL THE BORDER OF ALL OBLIGATION SATELLITE NATIONS BURROWER / BARRIER DESERT WALL IN THE SUBURBS BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY STRANGE ATTRACTOR

11 12 18 24 29 37 42 50 58 63

DISTANTS

Of the paradise that was not, no one can speak. Of the place that was no one can speak. Michael Palmer, Vamos Viver

THE NAMER Namer begins every sentence with eye adjusts his antlers looks down at the wall to a wolf hiding in wait to a deer bathing in a river to three women crossing a border from our path the surrounding desert is invisible only the hollow bones of birds bother speaking: I cannot be filled with things they cry so I still fly rather than sleepwalk and stumble the Namer stumbles and sighs then gives birth to a cracked egg from our path we see only a feather before the fire begins and we remember the calendars telescopes observations of a community based on place and the limitations of place

11

BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY

back at the observatory we called it a star we called it essential but it was barely visible our eyes strained from looking we called it tender and near we called it protector what we rubbed between ourselves creating heat and light an obstacle we touched but when we called it to us it stood still when we pleaded with height to let distance compress to let go star stood still wall stood still gone as soon as gotten
12

next to the pool with other conference members other astronomers from California we project glossy name tags reminding everyone the public relations of cranial measurement requires a loyalty oath unrelated to skulls we wall in all accusations deny the migratory relation between solar and terrestrial bodies the wall confers a televised event every piece of merchandise curls back into blindness

13

in Galileos Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems every body naturally capable of motion moves when set at liberty drawn by a strange attractor repository of dark matter

14

further out than the observatory a walled landscape invisible to telescopes wall replicates large tract housing large tracts of sky overlooking everything

15

we walk out to the parking lot while a phone rings for entry that is not me entering or you entering rippling palms and white coats from the wall this city attracts a treatise on the ability of a box to house everything

16

of all orbits this one is claimed immutable claimed distant

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CROSSING THE WALL

2,100-mile-wall hard to guess the date modified or recognize a real Indian early politicians specialized in getting over hot air balloons or tri-planes designed for meteorological studies open doors a man in a jeep shouts at us without explaining the benefits of a bulldozer for opening doors the card catalogue is full fingerprints complete everything we came for lost in the telling telling lost time that is the wall in your desert this is the wall in mine

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the border is a mnemonic device for space that issay nothing remember the panama canal in wildest form 1 American deer hunter 1 Mujahidin it is getting very crowded a dead little matter our telescope another explosion when the cake is not large enough consider the episode closed anthem suggests consider yourself redeemed your country remedied

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we went to sleep as a country one border

one barrier

one burrower

Great Wall of China 4,163 miles

Israeli West Bank Wall proposed total length 403 miles

under the wall further the wall

farther

under the grass and the dirt the arc of the bird

Berlin Wall 93.5 miles

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this dusty town once called meeting place crossing road now called checkpoint ambush she had come up from Guadalajara he east of Gaza their doubleness sneaking creaking rocking heels back and forth this is my lament, she said an untimely shuffle

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many obstacles many ceremonies for tourists a seaside border town flat-dusty wrought-iron balconies no newspaper clippings or carnival people no cremations for patrons no pins sticking the doll west-bank wall south-west wall baldfaced head of a ghost whiteouts and snowstorms blot the 2,100 mile border: I got past the palm trees the fog seven patrol cars hands out of pockets hands on head a ridiculous document in Yuma sector

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numerical miles of wall add up without acronym what you promised and what missed surveillance provided by newspapers: orange belt sun belt black sun every time we watch someone we catch someone any-where any-time never set your foot here or on the side

other

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