Literrata: LATE HOUSEWARMING POEM TO WM.T.WILEY

Saturday, June 21, 1986

LATE HOUSEWARMING POEM TO WM.T.WILEY

After you'd moved in, something new

glowed from the deadwood of the madrone—

Wedged between the cambian layer and heart,

a white torso startled my horse.

I don't know why, but I've always been afraid

of fallen trees in the forest at dusk—

a ghostly reflection of downed limbs.

Maybe it's because things unseen by the iris

come more clearly into focus: night vision.

These exponentials sharpen the artist's eye:

Andromeda, Orion's shoulder,

a Styrofoam torso, the half-life of memory,

branches learning to meet the ground.

The last time I rode past this house,

Mrs. Raynes choked on a piece of steak

at a dinner party; small white O’s

of the guests' mouths, as each searched

for an appropriate response—

and found themselves wanting.

I remember how her clipped voice resounded

like hooves churning up the steep driveway.

Flecks of foam & blood dappled his eager chest

the last time the horse carried her home.
Her husband and children moved back to Britain.

The light from the kitchen window

slaps against the corralled darkness,

antlers knocking on the garden fences

like the dead, my grandmother says—

Deer raise their heads as if in welcome,

to watch us pass.

1985/86/87/90 Solstice

Now I'm not sure of the original date, i'm going with 2/7/86 as that freewrite is closest to the final piece. I'll leave it at the solstice for now.

I sent Wiley this poem
and he wrote back to me.
When I scan my letters, I'll post it.

Hmmm, I found a handwritten draft dated 2/7/86, following a prose piece I had written, INSOMNIA at 3AM, Imaginary letters to Wiley.