TALK ~

T U C S O N, May 30

Josh Galemore

Arizona Daily Star

JERRY MARTIEN ~

Getting Over the Distance Between Us




Sometimes I think it's true that territory

Is only how far we're willing to go

To get to the girl or boy next door.

Geography is really all we have to talk about.

I want you the names of three rivers, I say.

She mentions softly two ranges of mountain.

Over the hugest most western rock, I complain.

She answers with ocean, tides, storms, miles of sand.

I'm reminded of the fault between us.

Of the ups and downs of differently shifting plates.

The tendencies of continents to drift apart.

She is unmoved.

Though again and again I fold my maps, go home

To be among familiar birds and flowers

She knows what latitude and longitude

I'm set on. What long-sought passage.

The trail of abandoned lives and furniture

That follows the heart of discovery.

Another life. Another country.

It always begins at the border.


                  Arcata / Capetown / Petrolia



________________

Jerry Martien
Pieces in Place
Blackberry Books
1999