at the tent city of Detroit's homeless.

for reva

and she slept with one eye open

the other frozen to an eyelid like a whale

who closes a nostril to sing -

Who hangs her wig on a hook in

space, as she,

all student and forgiving

are those specks of clover

in Matisse' "Life With Geraniums"

where the potted plant becomes

a quaint English table setting. But

you can't possess the cold. It,

the cold,

takes all possession together

as it was the type of pain you found

no where in suburbia. In the cub-scouts

we pitched a tent on the warm

grass of Belle Isle, along the bank

where a bass was caught and released,

saying

"did you see that fish,

how it struggled for air in this

world of oxygen"? Our little palms

red from the taunt rope until

our den-mother, her denim skirt skipping

up politely to the top of her

sneakers, told us,

all huddled, with knees crossed,

a fairytale.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

wow yes, suburbia...from the throes of city streets where the homeless try to survive---and struggle for each breath each new day...there is suburbia...where little kids rough it, with a tent on a weekend camping trip...and yet...they see that fish struggling for oxygen, not realizing they could be watching that homeless woman struggling for oxygen as well, for survival.
i like the ending...she told us a fairy tale...i bet that woman could use a fairy tale ending.
you always amaze, dana.

[writing mojo]

Yes these are the elements and devices in the making a poet..

[Emily B]

once upon a time there was a boy whose eyes were wide open, he would grow up to be a poet

[W.k.kortas]

I remember Lou Rawls, in one of those wonderful little monologues he would occasionally tuck in between songs, talking about "the hawk", that cold razor-blade wind that is the product of urban skyline wind-tunnels, a wind you find nowhere else. The striking contrasts here--the pastoral Matisse, the "quaint English table setting", the not-exactly-roughing-it suburban field trip all placed against the background of those the cold actually possesses in every sense of the word--is simply virtuoso stuff, and the final image of a fairytale, which can be happily-ever-after or deceivingly dark...well, I just can't emphasize how hard it is to write something so complex and make it look so easy.

[Ken Simm.]

This reaches outwards and picks erudite and completely apropos images from layers in experience and history. It works and speaks to and on so many of those levels.

[Terrence Chang]

Nicely written. Quite visually appealing with your words. Keep up the good work