SIX PIECES OF A DREAM (2013) i. Almost A flock of grackles in the November sky Races toward the darkening trees. Gone. I called the dog and headed back. Puddles in the road Catch the almost fallen light I stopped My shadow resting at my feet.
ii. Before Class I teach english to chinese immigrants. Before class I exchange a few words with a young mother, her young son and daughter. The young girl is shy and stares open-eyed at me, eyeing my strange aging face, my blue eyes and clipped white hair--- We are a rhinocerous and a tiny bird. She stares silently, her black eyes round and open, capturing me completely. Nee jeeow shempe mingshi ? I ask- what is your name ? Linda she says. Inside her eyes is likewise a strange world to me-- a mixed world of mandarin and english. How far apart we are, and yet so close. iii. Pittsburgh 1951 My father was a big Pirates fan (remember Rosy Rosewell ?) so it wasn't unusual to hear a ball game playing somewhere on the radio. Just the sound of a mulling crowd and the crack of the bat, then crowd roar takes me back. Sometimes I will find a ball game on the radio and follow it because of the relaxed slow pace. The mulling of the crowd. The crack of the bat. iv. Salzburg A vase of flowers on a table Is touched by a spring breeze As she opens the door and leaves for school, Just as she opened the grand piano Before playing a Mozart sonata To see the steel strings Strong and tight, not like her soft hands As gentle as can be on the keyboard. The hammered steel and the warm wood inside filling the room with music, and Mozart within the music and the music within her being. But with the last note it is quiet. I reach over and straighten an imprecision of the flowers. v. Stained Glass Breathing in, then together, with the first notes left behind, and firmly the tympani adding authority to the almost a capella choir... eternal God.... my bass notes supporting the beautiful soprano tones: how wonderful, how wonderful.. the glory as in the Salzburg Cathedral, all gold and blue rococco, with each phrase, except I am not at all singing, I am listening to the chuff of the wind pipes, beside Jesus in the stained glass, the pity and the terror and pain,as real here as my fist, shining now in that broken light, all voices sweetly breathing in together, then repeating. vi.The Theory of Providence Far out at sea, a lone sailboat, headed where-- who knows ? Above, a clear blue sea and sky I cannot touch. As peaceful as Eden. Here, Adam's shadow falls broken on tumbled walls-- with schoolgirls in their plaid uniforms, tossed like broken dolls outside the school. Like wet sticks over mud. Over all, the unbearable sadness, the thirst, the heat of the sun, the cries for help. Far out at sea, the shadow of a gull passes over the sailboat. The wind is in the sails, the waves curl from the rudder. - Roger Clough Dr. Roger Clough NIST (ret.) 6/13/2013 See my Leibniz site at http://team.academia.edu/RogerClough -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
