If I Could Walk on Ice...

The little book about the project that started in New York in 1992, called the Poetry in Motion program (where poetry appeared on buses and subways), is currently remaindered for $3.98 in Barnes & Noble on Sunrise in Citrus Heights. It may also be on sale for cheaps at other B&N locations; I don't know. But I got a copy yesterday at Sunrise. You've probably seen it; it's called Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast, edited by Elise Paschen and Brett Fletcher Lauer, W.W. Norton & Co., Ltd., 2002. It contains 120 poems from as many poets, ranging from Blake to Neruda to Tu Fu. Samples:


THE TAXI
—Amy Lowell

When I go away from you
The world beats dead
Like a slackened drum.
I call out for you against the jutted stars
And shout into the ridges of the wind.
Streets coming fast,
One after the other,
Wedge you away from me.
And the lamps of the city prick my eyes
So that I can no longer see your face.
Why should I leave you,
To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?

_____________________

TOO MUCH HEAT, TOO MUCH WORK
—Tu Fu (712-770)

It's the Fourteenth of August, and I'm too hot
To endure food, or bed. Steam and the fear of scorpions
Keep me awake. I'm told the heat won't fade with Autumn.

Swarms of flies arrive. I'm roped into my clothes.
In another moment I'll scream down the office
As the paper mountains rise higher on my desk.

Oh those real mountains to the south of here!
I gaze at the ravines kept cool by pines.
If I could walk on ice, with my feet bare!

______________________

You got that right, big guy!

B&N Sunrise has also started a poetry open mic on first Fridays at 7pm, free, hosted by Donene Schuyler. Info: crm2885@bn.com. B&N Arden was, of course, the seat of poetry readings for many years here in Sacramento.

—Medusa