The Attitudes

The Attitudes

 

by Robert Bové (July 2006)
(from Actual Phantoms, a new ms. being shopped)

 

 

 

Afloat in Iced Hibiscus Tea

 

 

Orion’s belt, in cedar grove

the scent of night a song—

upon that tune a life is made

as short as it is long.

 

Heedless moments are so

rare, distractions not big

                                         enough

nor near enough

over time, in intensity—

 

and nothing checks decent.

 

Consider that man on cardboard bed,

still considering bananas

wedged in hurricane fence—

no tree as slothful,

no leopard so skeptical.

 

 

 

Forgetery

 

 

Consider me, but not for long—

save your eyes for self-regard.

So the painter said, one on

me, the other on the ceiling.

 

He said, Forget thrush, forget oak—

they’re just passing

through, already forgot

you.

 

But we miss them when they go,

remember them when they’re gone,

remember them when they’re back.

Not all that passes is illusion.

Whole worlds want believing

before seeing.

 

This one I miss already, even as it is—furling

old glass at sunset—

 

unfully dissolved city,

mixing joy in birth,

smug completion,

and newborn fear of being lost—

but to what isn’t clear.

 

 

 

(untitled)

 

 

Each new comfort—brings a new fear—

each convenience—new vexation—

deviation of—attention—

from what—we’ve forgotten.

 

 

 

(untitled)

 

 

The music is lean—

lyrics slave—to beat—

its sound a great—wind—driving us—

to shelter—in our own—imagination.

 

A fine thing, could we anymore

remember our own.

 

 

 

Memories

 

 

I embraced great causes

but my own—

and so failed everyone.

 

I launched my friends into

my poems, ended up

with neither.

 

I clung to the beautiful

the nonsensical, the brave.

I admired the admirable,

loved the lovable,

sexed up with the sexy.

 

I sent away for one—attractive/loyal/industrious—

having read these words in an ad—

saw it was my body

                                doing the imagining

just as I had lost it.

 

 

 

(untitled)

 

 

—pining for applause for the skill I’d use making

the cage I’d taught my mind to become

 

or rummaging through caves in France or Spain

as if Paleolithic sincerity would rub off

 

as if they knew more about eternity than anybody else tabled

in time

            skin itching

                                    gasping on the fresh air

 

                                                                 mourning doves glide upon

 

 

 

(untitled)

 

 

—then I pass a blotchy sot I’ve seen on bar stools up and down Montague

standing, a quarter following the dime falling from his hand—

why they were there, he’s forgotten.

 

I pass a graying man sleeping in cheap yellow summer suit,

alone on a bench, one palm on brow, one on knee,

at the moment the novelty of playing hooky from work fades—

and the look of a hunted hare returns.

 

I sit, watching a silent, steady couple pass by,

determined stride, determined hand in determined hand, deciding again,

out loud, to stay together, not for the last time today.

 

In the Breach

 

 

It’s been years since I took a photo here.

The view’s the same—I forgot the light,

forgot the ships, forgot the walkers—

and it’s still without those who couldn’t return then.

 

What am I thinking, what are we thinking,

between thoughts and sensations, between breaths,

when something else gets in and we see it—

but only later, in recalling the site?

 

I come to get away but it is here,

where great distances absorb distractions,

that I arrive, with me what I carry.

Times when the traffic below stops dead, when I

 

think, this is silence, this is breath,

this is time, this is the time, the time

to absorb, to appreciate, to love,

to hold, to cultivate, to grow, to reap—

 

think myself hearing, now here, like last time,

like first time, here, now, hearing myself think.

 

 

 

Jammed

 

 

By what twisting path…

 

                                        …across what puzzle…

 

…do I see…

 

                                        …across the harbor…

 

…a harbor filled…

 

                                       …from shore to shore…

 

…crammed with music…

 

                                       …and holy junk.

 

What way…

 

                                       …for holy convert…

 

…other than to skip…

 

                                      …from boat to boat…

 

…from tug to scow…

 

                                          …in holy concert…

 

…graceful…

 

                                         …ever with out score.

 

 

Robert Bové contributes regularly to The Iconoclast, our Community Blog. Click here to see all his contributions, on which comments are welcome.