a park bench - sit
stop stop full stop
sounds like me Max thanks P
-----Original Message-----
From: Max Richards
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 6:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 'Up Capitol Hill Twice'
Up Capitol Hill Twice
1. Eye and Nose
While we’re up here,
enjoy the sublime view,
I tell the dog, who,
far rather than
the transcendental
prefers nose-to-ground
fragrances - scents all
that humans frowned
on since time began.
Look sharp, look round!
You may not verbalize,
but do mentalize! -
those panoramas
outdo these aromas -
in my view, in my eyes,
which are so not-yours.
Up! share this favorite
bench. Empathize!
Dog’s nose knows? -
to recognize
is truly to know,
real knowledge
re-cognition.
To have been here
some time before
and to know it again…
Flash of a squirrel -
at last his eye is caught:
Lurch in its direction -
this we can share -
it’s light in action.
Now he’s a sight-hound
like me - outward bound
rather than down-to-ground.
Across the lawn, up its tree,
where not even eye
can trace it - squirrels
itself away. We subside
into ourselves. Recovered,
we can go back down
together, our jaunty
saunter and swagger
brought on more
by the slope than the sense
we make between us of our
overlapping experience.
What do I see in him? -
after filtering out projection
(in each other’s good books) -
cross-species connection
familiar yet foreign,
Labrador good looks.
I see a stubborn survivor
of much surgery - liver
and thereabouts - returned
to the life his courage earned.
What does he see - smell -
sense - in me? Dog knows.
This tolerable Other,
patient big brother,
who feeds and walks him, well
enough, I suppose.
2. Uphill Exercise
Uphill stroll
becomes a plod
take a right
along the flat
get breath back
turn then up
another test
look about
pause for a rest
exercise eyes
all those houses
all those styles
modest or proud
sad ones doomed
prey to developers
building high flats
all those gardens
change of seasons
various blossoms
petals on grass
old trees shattered
in the last storm
zigzag to the top
time for a breather
a park bench - sit
stop stop full stop
watch for the next storm
what may it take out?
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