TC: Divine Dancers

.

Purple-throated Carib Hummingbird in its natural habitat, Morne Diablotins National Park, Dominica: photo by Charlesjsharp, 1 December 2010

for Edwin Denby

“The angels standing

two or three feet away

terrify,”

Edwin said

The Great Ones

when they sweep

across our sphere

of the universe

move

in a state of

presque vu --

almost seen

in the phantom

motion

of a curtain

stirred by no breeze --

hovering

behind a screen

waiting there

to manifest themselves

TC: So Long

.

Life with its heart down on its hands and knees

Has wasted so much time and lost

90% of the big ones for so long it’s not

Worth it, no, I don’t care what you say

Said the champion

Dempsey and Firpo: George Bellows, 1924
Taking the Count: Thomas Eakins, 1898

TC: The Rebel Against Dogs

.

Soaring through wider zones that pricked his scars
With memory of the old revolt from dogs,
He reached a middle height, and at the stars,
Which are the brain of heaven, he looked and sank.
Around the ancient track marched, rank on rank,
The army of unalterable paws.

Siberian Dogs in the Snow: Franz Marc, 1909/1910 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)

TC: Following Rivers into the Night

.

Edge of the Amargosa Desert: Maynard Dixon, 1927 (Nevada Museum of Art)

for Ed Dorn

I guess it’s because

the only things left in this West

I can have any real

respect for

are beauty of character

and beauty of nature

and you know the two

breed one another

in those long miles where

there is nothing to do

as the sun goes down

over the flat horizon

but watch it slowly gild

the surfaces of rivers

from the Belle Fourche

(or Foosh, as the locals say)

to the Cimarron

which will push on into

the darkness with its light

flickering over them like a skin.

TC: A New Light

.

The sandpapery candor of Bobby Dylan
Strikes a jejune note all of a sudden

Throw my ticket out the window
Throw my sneakers out there too

Mama said there’d be days like this
When rain pencils the sky

With an air of biological rigor
And visibility is grimly minimized

Tiny puffs of smoke speckle it
The harmonic spectrum is muffled

The tall white dog stands in the road
Shivering and shaking the water off

The scene makes the usefulness
Of an infinite tolerance evident

Too late I see the value of being
Resolute in a new light

Rain falling: photo by Axel Drouin, 2005
Rain falls: photo by Tomasz Sienicki, 2004
Rain drops on a smoke tree leaf: photo by Kris Miller, 2004