TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Author


3 poems

CONTEXT

"My sense is that you can get a lot more
Positive reinforcement here." On sunny days
Steam rises from the irrigated
Asphalt. It's harder than you think
To cross without wobbling, to keep
A straight face in a crooked mirror.
"As if it were so obvious -- it's absolutely
Ridiculous." What we can make of ourselves
When we put housemaids to it.
"So when I say these things so confidently
In my sermons it's because I've figured them out."

"The trick is to get them to talk
About themselves -- they always like
To talk about themselves."
What used to be a series
Of fragments is now a cohesive
Abstraction. You share a bench with her
For hours until you know everything
There is to know about her, only for her
To abruptly depart without glance or word.
"I'm doing great this week because
I"ve scheduled lunches with people everyday."




COO COO

A longer one this

time plays with us

that time two

or three more do

the same thing, just

fly away from it

all of this

was not my idea of

concern for the subject

at hand, my hand

would be too strong to hold

without pressure: the pigeon

breast, rib cage,

hollow bones

quivering




SCREEN

Vancouver, B.C.

To come forward, piece
together the wind,
the matter at hand lying
a foot away. How many
boats are police
boats? Say five. Call
it "paranoid," call it
"a love poem." The lights
blink & blink. Each drop
falls---a flash, then
gone again. Chameleons
hide & seek without moving.
Baffling finale of booms: sulfur
streaks riding the Strait to
the Sound, a running
leotard over dark thigh
of sky. So you offer me another
fig, arachnid working fast
to repair a gossamer world,
picky, gluttonous,
filmmaker extraordinaire.

© Craig Van Riper