lets forget

John Martone

samuddo / ocean
2016

lets forget
copyright 2016 John Martone
samuddo / ocean
johnmartone @gmail.com

lets forget

Le mosche abbondano quest'anno, come sempre. A

proposito: si chiede a che servono le mosche. Chiaro, che a nutrir le rondini. E le rondini? Chiaro, che
a insegnare agli uomini (perci si mettono sopra le
loro finestre) tante cose: l'amore della famiglia e del
nidietto. La prima capanna che uomo costru, di
terra seccata al sole, alla sua donna, gli insegn una
coppia di rondini a costruirla. Ci fu al tempo dei
nomadi. Le rondini viaggiatrici insegnarono alluomo di fermarsi. E gli dettero il modellino della casa.
Solo, luomo lo capovolse.
Giovanni Pascoli

the house abandoned

grasses reach to
buddhas sternum

when you return

bleeding hearts are full
of windblown trash

you thought youd

dug out all
that thornbush

all the branches

dangling maple-wings
thats how you feel

neighbors aging
pine limbs sweep
the roof peak

a new doorbell
peace and quiet

rainy day
that rusty gates
a grackle

taking to heart
this practice of oblivion
you clone the jade plant

the eaves drip

in code
you cant name that star

violets
you thought you were painting a seascape

10

bruised a rib
coughing
april showers

dreaming
at last Im
swimming

11

endless rain
you get back in the car
your lungs are clear

finally tulips
in the rain
door swollen shut

12

while listening to
kitchen clocks second-hand
the pines!

as long as
theres more laundry
to do this

13

dandelions
in the basil pot
dont be bitter

white violets
my fingers
are dirty

14

after that first

day in the garden
trimming your nails

pick and shovel

sad to think done replanting
the family fig tree

15

on looking up
from the broken shell
a nestlings eyes

last of that phlegm

coughed-up while
planting bulbs

16

knee-shape
gladiolus bulbs
and these knees

hundred more
gladioli to plant
imagine

17

planting gladioli
mother had
such brown eyes

gladioli
planted in rows
and now lets forget

18

light spirals down

this pine a fledgling dove
and me

ciborium
the fledgling dove
fills its nest

19

also innate the fledgling

doves fluttering cry
first flight

no one knows how

the fledgling doves eye
takes you in

20

rolled-up
pill bug rolls back and forth
palm-reading

beetle flies off

slowly its a whole
sky

21

digging up
a small patch
till the mail comes

we sit outside
rocking at different speeds
evening star

22

just call them doves

this spring
not mourning doves

old saw
oak leaves
the size of mouse ears
time to plant corn

23

history
the first bee comes as youre spreading
mulch over old news

last of
spring beauties
a dove egg shell in pieces

24

mailman
talks to himself
something for me

garden work
sole splits off
the old shoe

25

garden fence
the gardeners
only trouble

empty chair
across from me
spring evenings

26

evening sun
through a window
you need to wash

27

evening sun
on the brass lock-set
blinding

moons whiteness
through pear tree
blossoms as well

28

familiar stars the front door not locked

long drive
to the stained-glass windows
the same light

29

clean as can be
mud-daubers inspect
my wash on the line

sweetgum balls
everywhere underfoot
Ive come full circle

30

pine trees candle

the fledgling dove
has no choice

may apple
hearts ease
my knees
give out

31

solitude deepens
water sparkles in
your jelly jar drinking glass

the seventeen-year
cicadas ready themselves
the last time

32

poem after poem

rain drips
from the eave

the storm blew down

that norfolk pine
my lace-leaf maple sparkles

33

yellow wood sorrel

a thousand miles from here
yellow wood sorrel

under a pile
of all those others
the outermost shore

34

wild strawberries flower

you keep
to the pavers

jet shrieks overhead

you cant keep up
with the weeding

35

I wake up
by such a tall window
Im almost outside

grass gone to seed

out front he wears
his good jacket

36

doves back-and-forth from

a nest outside my window
I try to sit still

returning to nature
I stake a small tree
before the storm

37

nightfall robin song

same-length sentences -then it stops

yellow flowers of the sun

getting plowed back
into earth

38

he steps down firmly

around the seedling
a poem sinks in

nowhere now pond at

an interstate clover-leaf
someone fishing

39

backyard grape-stock
youve no idea
what youre doing

40

after the earthquake

we slept outside for a month
90 years now

1929
their supper in Frigento
a bowl of pasta
and he dropped it

41

two days now

no mail in the box
there you are

42

dried tomatoes
in olive oil by a slab
of pecorino

the pine tree candles

a bagworm goes
the other way

43

stars
above the alley
that childhood stairwell

redwing blackbird
a small mark this backyard
on the prairie

44

you discover
an ancestors dates
your daughter goes for a walk

mockingbird and crow

and that one you cant name
what springs about

45

and yet
every stone of this stone house
displaced

46

trees leafing out

the house
disappears

47