Monday, May 4, 2009

FRED JEREMY SELIGSON








CHERRY BLOSSOMS



Just lean against
cherry blossom trunk
to write this



~




Wind, voices
blowing
through
blossoms



~




No bag needed
w/ all these
poetry pockets



~




Doesn't see me sitting
— that's a very big blue,
gold-winged bird



~




White petals
make a stripe
on this dirt road



~




Can't see temple
for the blossoms



~




Somewhere
down there
water's trickling



~




Down there
through pines
azalea pinks



~




Smell's
getting
stronger —
all combined
flowers



~



3 paths
like veins
meeting
your beating
heart



~




Pumpkin bee
can't get around,
nor can I — sits
on arm, "Hey
it's not your flower!"



~




A petal bridge
across



Long ago Jeremy Seligson called Susan at her job, because we had no phone at home in our cabin along the river and said Cid Corman was recommending he visit us since Jeremy had some plan in his head to move to Vermont. It was smack dab in the middle of mud season, and so that visit never did take place, but Susan came home with the message. Jeremy would eventually move to Vermont, and we did meet when Cid came to Bennington College to give a reading. I remember bunches of other friends there that night: Lyle Glazier, Stephen Sandy, David Giannini, Gerard Malanga (had a photography show up at the same time: double your pleasure). After Vermont, I believe Jeremy took off for South Korea, where he stayed in close contact with Cid and Shizumi in Kyoto, and to this day continues a one-man band of modest poetry flavor. A man of deep peace activism. I enjoyed the Spring when he sent to me dozens of cherry petal poems, and on the spot I selected a baker's dozen of the most pungent which I am sharing with you here. Yes, it's springtime whenever I open this little Cherry Blossoms booklet.



Wish I had someone to share
these blossoms with ...
well, how about you?