marlene mountain
one-line linked haiku
1981/82

marlene mountain          hiroaki sato

linked haiku number three     june 1981-may 1982

of nature

of nature: today's short sudden rain ending spring
beads of water mist her glasses
two in my life one treated me good she says and he's dead
ahead on the subway stairs a middle-aged woman
within the shadows the hard edge of a hard shadow
a cloudy sunset about a parking lot

here a river hasn't tamed us to a human scale
after six hours she removes the dead sperm
thinking: 'polywater and all the passion that into it'
how much does your ex get
music on the radio poignant, the air from the window cold
you mop and i'll split wood
under the limbs of that unnamed tree
naked in the beer
girls of girlie mags shingling a booth
queen's palace tied heads blown off
custom of burying the living relived in a poem
snowed-in imagined sounds of coitus

last day of the year we gather wood to burn without you
desolation understood in desolate nature
paper bag the shape of a fifth drifts across the parking lot
bar or office that's it
no she says we'll sell the mercedes fire the driver and you learn to fuck
dumped, mine-boggled in bitter cold
egg counter woman with 2 screaming kids husband laid-off
eyes lively, amused, teeth yellowing
men have nothing to say to which he replied we've said too much already
not a strand of hair in between
equinox to come home to the budding moon
new lover found, a sparrow with a twig

shriveled resident prostitute in modish red boots
way back virgin meant unmarried
doyenne of English letters and her lawyer housekeeper
the world to cuss, grass seed to sow
after a blizzard, cherries bloom in the streets
the talk at work of pink slips

Wind Chimes #8 1983

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