DISTANTS by Gordon Hadfield Book Preview

7/31/2019 DISTANTS by Gordon Hadfield Book Preview

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DISTANTS

Gordon Hadfield

BlazeVOX [books]Buffalo, New York


2/23

Copyright 2009

Published by BlazeVOX [books]

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced withoutthe publishers written permission, except for brief quotations in reviews.

Printed in the United States of America

Book design by Geoffrey Gatza

First Edition

ISBN: 1-934289-75-2

ISBN 13: 978-1-934289-75-4Library of Congress Control Number: 2008933397

BlazeVOX [books]14 Tremaine AveKenmore, NY 14217

[email protected]

BlazeVOX [ books ]

blazevox.org


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Dan Beachy-Quick, Matthew Cooperman, Geoffrey Gatza, ClaudiaKeelan, Myung Mi Kim, Kyle Schlesinger, and Sasha Steensen for their generous feedback.Versions of these poems previously appeared inFence,Denver Quarterly, P-queue, andInterim; Igive my thanks to the editors.


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For Sasha & Phoebe


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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

THE NAMER 11

BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY 12

CROSSING THE WALL 18

THE BORDER OF ALL OBLIGATION 24

SATELLITE NATIONS 29

BURROWER/BARRIER 37

DESERT WALL 42

IN THE SUBURBS 50

BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY 58

STRANGE ATTRACTOR 63


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DISTANTS


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Of the paradise that was not,no one can speak.

Of the place that wasno one can speak.

Michael Palmer, Vamos Viver


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11

THE NAMER

Namer begins every sentence with eyeadjusts his antlers

looks down at the wallto a wolf hiding in wait

to a deer bathing in a riverto three women crossing a border

from our path the surrounding desert is invisibleonly the hollow bones of birds bother speaking:

I cannot be filled with things they cry so I still flyrather than sleepwalk and stumble

the Namer stumbles and sighsthen gives birth to a cracked egg

from our path we see only a featherbefore the fire begins

and we remember the calendarstelescopes observations

of a community based on placeand the limitations of place


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12

BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY

back at the observatorywe called it a star

we called it essentialbut it was barely visible

our eyes strained from lookingwe called it tender and near

we called it protector

what we rubbed between ourselvescreating heat and light

an obstacle we touched

but when we called it to usit stood still

when we pleaded with heightto let

distancecompress

to let go

star stood stillwall stood still

gone as soon asgotten


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13

next to the pool with other conference members

other astronomers from California

we project glossy name tagsreminding everyone

the public relations ofcranial measurement

requires a loyalty oathunrelated to skulls

we wall in all accusationsdeny the migratory relation

between solarand terrestrial

bodies

the wall confersa televised event

every piece of merchandisecurls back into blindness


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14

in GalileosDialogue

Concerning the Two Chief World Systems

every bodynaturally capable of motion

moveswhen set at liberty

drawn by a strange attractor

repositoryof dark matter


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15

further out than the observatory

a walled landscape

invisible to telescopes

wall replicates large tracthousing

large tracts of skyoverlooking everything


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16

we walk out to the parking lot

while a phone rings for entry

that is not me enteringor you entering

rippling palms and whitecoats from the wall

this city attracts a treatiseon the ability of a box

to houseeverything


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17

of all orbits

this one is claimed

immutable

claimed distant


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18

CROSSING THE WALL

2,100-mile-wallhard to guess the date modified

or recognize a real Indian

early politicians specialized

in getting over

hot air balloons or tri-planesdesigned for meteorological studies

open doorsa man in a jeep shouts at us

without explaining the benefitsof a bulldozer for opening doors

the card catalogueis full fingerprints complete

everything we came for

lost in the tellingtelling lost time

thatis the wall in your desertthis is the wall in mine


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the border is a mnemonic device

for space

that issay nothing

remember the panama canal inwildest form

1 American deer hunter 1 Mujahidinit is gettingvery crowded

a dead little matterour telescope

another explosionwhen the cake is not large enough

consider the episode closedanthem suggests

consider yourself redeemed

your country remedied


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20

we went to sleep as a countryone border one barrier one burrower

Great Wall of China Israeli West Bank Wall4,163 miles proposed total length 403 miles

under the wall under the grass and the dirtfurther the wall farther the arc of the bird

Berlin Wall93.5 miles


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21

this dusty town once called

meeting place crossing road

now called checkpointambush

she had come up from Guadalajarahe east of Gaza

their doubleness sneakingcreaking

rocking heels back and forththis is my lament, she said

an untimely shuffle


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22

many obstacles

many ceremonies for tourists

a seaside border town flat-dustywrought-iron balconies

no newspaper clippingsor carnival people

no cremations for patronsno pins sticking the doll

west-bank wallsouth-west wall

baldfaced head of a ghostwhiteouts and snowstorms

blot the 2,100 mile border:

I got past the palm trees

the fog seven patrol cars

hands out of pocketshands on head

a ridiculous documentin Yuma sector


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numerical miles of wall

add up without acronym

what you promised and what missedsurveillance provided by newspapers:

orange belt sun beltblack sun

every time we watch someonewe catch someone

any-where any-timenever set your foot here

or

on the

other side

DISTANTS by Gordon Hadfield Book Preview

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