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Free-Form 3
Golden Sol
These pearly eyes number more
than grains of sand on ocean's shore.
Yet orb shines as autumnal star
like lustrous Achilleus from afar.
My Lord, Eubalaena breaches
in milky sea off heaven's beaches.
Leviathan grazes at her leisure
on krill of shrimp-size measure.
Nearchus, son of Androtimus,
behold bold killer Orcinus!
He agilely attacks the dolphin
known as Delphinus fleet-of-fin.
Do we see what there is to see
or rather what there appears to be?
I perceive three in Herakles kneeling
and another four in Aquila veering.
New moon rises while golden Sol
shows itself as eighth in dorsal.
Orca above and Eubalaena below
swim in harmonious celestial flow.
Dedicated to Astronavigator Rob Bradford
2005
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"I am old and on the shelf now, and much that is going on I no longer understand"1. Northrop Frye 1985
1. Northrop Frye's Late Notebooks 1982-1990, Architecture of the Spiritual World, Volume 5, Notebook 27, Passage 347, Ed. Robert D. Denham, University of Toronto Press, Toronto:2000
I am old
old
shelf
that
on
long
I am old and
on the shelf now
and much that
is going on
I no longer understand
| I'moldand | D | N | A |
| onshelfnow | no | flesh | own |
| going | g | new | g |
| onIno | no | I | on |
| understand | erst | et | rest |
| I | o | n |
| on | l | no |
| n | i | o |
| on | I | no |
| l | o | n |
I am old
aNd ON tHe sHelf
aNd mucH tHat
is gOing oN I No
lOnger uNder st[H]nd
Toronto 2004
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Tale
I
eye it.
White light
rights sight.
Soar fore free dove
your tale true love.
Harmonious peace abound
and Creator's handiwork renowned.
Paradise promised at rainbow's end
heralding a new beginning it sends.
Co co co colombe coded covenant
pri pri pri primary prismatic prient.
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Habitual
Coffee break becomes a round route.
"The usual?"
At first, I am comforted by her question.
She has remembered my preference.
As time passes though the question becomes disconcerting.
Am I that predictable?
Is she that predictable?
At least she hasn't noticed that I switch to decaf for my second cup.
In reality, I only follow a slightly more complex routine.
Shall I daringly choose the opposite seat today to face my yesterday self?
I joke with her that the seat doesn't have my name on it--yet.
I begin an intricate operation to set my calendar watch.
Of course, it is a pretense to show that I don't wile away my time.
There is nothing for me to do but to wile away my time.
I move my mug to the lip: I lower my lips to the mug.
My life is measured in coffee cups.
Drip. Drip. I become a nondescript drip.
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AllOne
The bone is white.
The skin is yellow.
The heart is red.
The pilot is sky.
The farmer is land.
The fisher is sea.
The satellite is silicon.
The lantern is glass.
The conch is sand.
The spirit is see.
The soil is touch.
The surf is hear.
The domicile is ____________.
The domain is ____________.
The destination is ____________.
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Call Too Far
Calls come
so infrequently,
so sporadically.
Telephone ring
in endless loop,
in incessant iterance.
Miss misses me
as time oppresses,
as autumn falls.
She is there
where space separates,
where worlds apart.
Words clipped
through one-way talk,
through transit delay.
Unknown location
whence defies placement,
whence wherever exists.
Time difference
that jumps her ahead,
that trails me behind.
My onely is alone
as I'm by myself,
as dual solitudes.
Disembodied voice
which slices time,
which wastes seconds.
Disconnected call
then open line,
then tear away.
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Xu Rong
The stelae silhouetted against
a starless sky act
as stark reminders of
man's vainglory folly.
Are these the names of scholars
etched vertically on
the crumbling surfaces of
still standing, lifeless stones?
So it is you, Jinshi, who passed
the vigorous imperial exams
of the dying dynasty remembered
in lines of history past.
Was it worth the price you paid
in silver coin of the realm
to erect these upright stones
where precious time stands still?
And you who changed your name
to praise the Emperor's reign
does lie in forgotten place
with no sign, no show, no stone.
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Mother
inner sanctum
Mare Tranquillitatis
mmm
outward bound
stream of consciousness
ma
playful pastime
ebb tide
mama
dreamscape
sonorous waves
mommy
Artemis protectress
fortress flooded
mom
Apollo Mission
Age of Aquarius
mater
unison
placid marina
mother
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sound is cicala
sound is cicala
ear is drum
wing is humming-bird
hua shi huayuan
spark is lightning
head is sphere
stick is man
hole is woman
stroke is ladder
spoke is wheel
poet is poetry
singer is songs
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The Long Wall
hung low some
exhausted stale air
insidiously winds round
fire breathing dragon
spews smoke forming
impenetrable Chang Cheng
Meng's tears wash
eyes sooted from
sacrificial brick pyre
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chirp
chirk chirt
the whi stl ing sounds
chink clink
clank
the chis el ing strikes
neither hears other
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One Two
Why worry about hypothetical happenings?
You have little leeway.
You have less life.
Why leave it for later?
You live for the known now.
Ye eat, drink and merry be.
Why challenge change?
You invite it as inevitable.
You relish to relinquish.
Why not negate the negative?
You affirm your arrival.
You celebrate your certainty.
Why do you care what others consider?
You realize that they rarely think of you.
You are indifferent to compliment or criticism.
Why do you follow fame?
You know fame flies with time.
You hear the wind whisper your mortality.
Why do you pursue possessions?
You go father with a lighter load.
You understand your possessions possess you.
Why does the subject project self onto object?
You and me be we.
You fall in love if you fall out of love with yourself.
Why do you only perceive with your eyes?
You delight in the moon hidden by the mist.
You sense her warm breast in the darkness.
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Away
There is no solace
putting things as they were.
Yes, nothing is the same--
everything has changed.
Where was round of laughter,
there is silent sound.
Where was wishful welcome,
there is home come of sadness.
Her picture sits beside
stuffed pillow, mattress and head.
It is a moment unremembered--
captured by glass lens.
Where was hour of bloom,
there is fadeless flower.
Where was sweet smile,
there is riddle of enigma.
D. Carlton Rossi
Welland
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天地
相 克
水克火
如三部
熄一部
土克水
如一部
吸三部
木克土
如四部
析一部
金克木
如一部
劈四部
火克金
如一部
移一部
D. Carlton Rossi
Macao 2007
Encoding is Chinese simplified GB2312
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Armageddon
i see scene
my eye hurts
day's end ends
end days are
quake shakes earth
animal marks Andaman
words of dragon
croak crow cry
two horned lamb
ba bar barb
sixtieth year here
fifth stem returns
black dragon swims
black water rises
water dragon whirls
year is 2012
month is twelve
day is twenty
time is twenty-four
off-center is Meg
the fish walks
water age submerges
Red sea redder
Dead Sea deader
end est Ende
D. Carlton Rossi
2008
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