Kitchen Music
New York, 2017
collage = REALITY
— Joseph Cornell
i.
the morning after
with its "back to life" feeling.
manhattan breakfast:
a restaurant of
silver grey driftwood -
a feeling of water.
ii.
outside the coffee shop
a young bird alighted -
treethrushsong
iii.
a gulf of rain,
and the city sinks an inch.
at Penn Station, the lush tyres of yellow taxis -
umbrellas of Cherbourg
in the subway crush.
iv.
chance encounters:
old back yards,
reflections of the sun through curtains
from the sidewalk, gleaming
the city market,
"Hey Jude" among
bees and melons
a steel bridge, the Hudson
blank between the walls.
a corner bar.
a girl in a window.
v.
Thursday at the arboretum:
cool green
the cafe kitchen window open
and sounds tunnel in
- song sparrows,
butterflies that churr
vi.
downtown evening:
the sky towers of Manhattan
dark green against a stark aqua sky
then home, the sea
a new north blue.
the chill early March breezes
a wild piano music.
nostalgia wiped clear
vii.
this morning
among the tidewrack:
azimuth, whale bone
shoes and twine, a tedium of
cartons, floats
varia, et cetera.
a day owl, almost blue.
viii.
couch dream evening
entre chien et loup,
a high angelic sunset
"the earth with yellow pears
and wild with roses"
ix.
ephemera:
what minute (infinitesimal)
living can be
______________________
Lesley Harrison
Kitchen Music
New Directions, 2023
