vasubandhus accident

john martone

samuddo/ ocean 2013

Thanks to Banya Natsuishi for publishing poems from the group vasubandhus accident in Ginyu, to Werner and Jane Reichhold for publishing nebula in Lynx, and to Scott Metz his Roadrunner.

A print version of this e-book is available from Lulu.com

copyright 2013 by john martone ISBN: 978-1-304-09009-6 samuddo / ocean

vasubandhus accident

vasubandhus accident

a book vasubandhus accident at sea mandala nebula Wscheklammer mountainside sky nest pilgrim spoor oyster boats single road shadows weather-vane germination

mcm

a book

a book light enough to discard

words on a page

traffic in snow

snow already sloppy w/ people

late a night shoveling snow into dreams

shoveling snow its a narrow path

after the blizzard a distant crows laughter

10

just observing pushing a stuck door open

11

only a year

the shoe sole splits off

12

lots of daylight without a word

13

vasubandhus accident

a wind shakes the dark house & sleep spills out

14

an ink-stain spreading winter wind outside

an ink-stain from the beginning of time

an ink-stain draws you in perfect night

an ink-stain your winter coats blackness

an ink-stain soon everyones image

15

you rotate the ink-stain & there it is circumpolar

a human continent an ink-stain

an ink-stains lobes distant buddha-lands

you close your eyes & the ink-stain runs on

a good shirt ink-stained his name

16

you keep repeating that prayer an ink-stain

you wake up from a dream from an ink-stain

17

at sea

at sea now no hawser no clue not even that twostranded one stop grasping

18

empty glue-jar on his table & a buddha the same height

19

flight-feathers & deer skull there that way

20

look out window then the windows after-image

21

make your bed push it back to the wall

22

you cant remember your prayers exactly how it starts

23

nebula

downhill into fog that lens

winter fog just like any other book

24

lost in fog you remember how to fly

pissing thru fog that sound

winter fog one lightbulb bare as can be

in winter fog a clearness about the body

25

winter fog a vague crow caws

winter fog everything else is skin

same as everyone else this fog

winter fog nebulas way out there

26

winter fog the cloud of unknowing somewhere at home

27

 Wscheklammer
wasknijper pinza de la ropa molletta per stendere pince ligne kep phi qun o kljukica za perilo clothespin

out of touch

hanging the laundry

28

many clothespins but you hunt for a smoke

w/ blurred vision study a clothespin

29

 clothespins humans try to believe

clothespins just because people have fingers

clothespins cigarettes fix this time

clothespin

weathered as you are

30

his clothespins many amulets

clothespins holding onto a foreign language

4 noble truths

a clothespin pulled free

31

mountainside

dreaming one neuron turns into a river you cross it

32

mountainside caves motel rooms a blue pool

trailer homes above a river it all glints

ancient cars over grown

33

open the blinds & read a verse

first full moon all the roofs sailing off

a single room in the stars for you

34

sky

sky so clear let it go

35

a home for the disabled crow takes you in

36

roadside crow a human wears galoshes

roadside crow knowing where it leads

37

nest

you step off the road out of the wind into a ditch

heron eagle crow gull white water mother gone

38

rivers bend & everything lost in that mandala

(eyes shut) that ring of light contracts to a point & youre home

39

downstream piece after piece the whole broken bowl

(boot sinks) not quite quicksand

what chance thinking of tortoise shell finding bird nest

40

bird nest center of its candelabrum

41

walk thru dump heres a snail

deer tracks in this dump too

liquor bottle in winter thicket whistle!

42

little bird nest mother gone

43

pilgrim

clean clothes falling snow

the loose thread pulls you in

44

pilgrim? oh he just went for a walk

just one penstroke seagull

45

snow &a sun flower seed

why not just sit in the light

you glimpse a stranger in the window & its you

46

spoor

snow falling white as inside this pear

47

 it snows till that branch comes full circle

in blowing snow everyone a sycamore

some bug youve seen before crossing snow

48

squirrel tracks in snow between two pines just once

49

two-inch snow on the lightnings scar

50

 spring snow out of nowhere blood spoor

you follow blood spoor to a hollow tree

51

this bootlace comes untied like clockwork

many crows caw after that moment of light

pine needles on snow point every way here

52

oyster boats

walk to the sea its that time of life

53

her chair now no one sits

54

snow melts ceiling falls in

55

 8 octagonal glass dessert-plates with spring flowers etched around the rims, stacked in a tower, sparkling on the kitchen table. What remains. They are movie-house premiums from the days of quarter picture-shows seventy years ago, meant to say, Thank you please come back! Youll never know what she saw.

under fallen pine smaller ones new ones

56

shovel handle cracked root still holds

study logs face for hairline crack you start there

driving wedges till the tree-trunk sighs open

youre uninjured amid these hurricaned trees

57

autumn winter spring & still splitting a great oak

music box jewelry box & hope chest you split a great oak

58

a rooming house room looks out over roofs dripping rain

listen ancient radio ancient rooming house room

59

a mildewd book about room ing houses in this rooming house

60

her log-cabin music-box ballerinas gone

61

that light rainy day by the sea

grave settling in these rains her ocean bed

62

oyster boats rock at anchor in this rain being empty

63

single road

going way back hanging the tools where they belong

64

worn-out make friends w/ crow

guiltily tying up budding stems

65

 tulips in their own time

tulips not of this world

in a hopeless place one thought of tulips

one morning itll be all tulips

tulips a memory of knees 66

tulip stems lengthen ing prairie wind

the rain without stems here are tulips

tulips close as you get

67

shadows

you rise & prairie frost lays it all out again

68

sideways broke in snail shell

one sky crocus

69

cant scrub all this dirt from suppers parsnips

parsnip root hairs just so you know

70

old work boots youre catching at shadows

71

weather-vane

house mouse in a light fixture last nights dream

72

chainsaw hearing snowfall

bare-headed snow falling from trees

you follow that deer till youd have to jump

a wood-knot warbler takes off from snow

73

snow-capped stump youre no one

74

snow tumbles from trees fish rise to frog eggs

clumps of frog eggs island houses

clumps of frog eggs those whole notes!

75

squeaky wheel warbler above muddy snow

fateful plunge snow from high branch onto snow

snow tumbles from trees gulls circle the lake

76

snowbound weather-vane that way

77

germination

seedtray soil your pores

snows draw back tomato seeds germinate

78

starting seeds containers from your trash

79

pepper seeds basil seeds tomato seeds human eyes

a few hours forget whats planted where

80

just imagine starting seeds

garden seed mother gone

81

cotyledons a heartbeat

82

days get longer you plant a garden you rub your eyes

its good dirt you crumble it you cant stop

83