Conjunctions:22 The Novellas Issue

Ojjiba
sideways a gift for language the joined up tunes il splash and whine

ordained it the frisked mood piece of cotton in the ear every day different

a felon passes I believe dog-eared as three of your pals the boy in tune with

the sandcastle out of three twigs on a harp who hear the bow bend

early music
 
 
 
you think I am joyous up at dawn down by il splash not true I hover and in

with the robins as they take up their chores and on the brink of financial

ruin this is not a sophisticated place can crown you with ruin take your hand

off the plate
 
 
 
(in the wrinkled pod

                         tried your bat on the faucet saw a hood

like what he writes away from the gold batter)



ruin is pleasanter up here whisks crossing the dune blown shell and

peppermint leas even if no rim around me scoop up the line and distribute

it regularly not haunted think of milk toast three winks not lonely early

music
 
 
 
caused the chair to move to the brink the azalea in winter wonder who

refused to cosset it if ruin can put us out of sight then forgot or the chair

moved wish it were closer
 
 
 
of sentimental values none no more than a spasm the arm goes over and

down and over in il splash drank a tumbler then greenleaf and swimming

dog muscular gladioli goodly frère unio mystica we perceive a grass ship
 
 
 
on the sea surface a forget-me-knot the ratio consoling a strange look at the

vein and flung in a cloud the lantern a different embrace in pursuit of il

splash
 
 
 
marveled at how little comes from much in a nook combing hair classical

drift of the bay naked off Palinurus Cape O queen of Cnidos literature

“wax-white arms of Lydia” waterfront pebbled with bones
 
 
 
and she confronts us “the woman who weeps” the scenery dislikes wet arms

bathing suit pulled down at the corner a raft on the sea she is a raft an egg

shell breaks god’s whip early music
 
 
 
wave passes over from sight wave is obscured water replaces cloud the

surface reverses its look bottom of the sea comes up like a kite in the rear

on our back rain will emerge from that dying cloud whither arrow of blue
 
 
 
no concern for corridor upstairs icy trees blow smoke what island was it

cold from where we sat fingers never still water idly lay a green cloth they

jump into bed wake to the crow can guess the dark coat
 
 
 
about the sandcastle our position on innovation the duster the trap is it

mediocre the schoolmaster suggests wool in the brace a tight fit the bodice-

fitter complains
 
 
 
(or seascope of anchored tin put out the table the chipped metallurgical

appears to be a vine no goddess to shake a leg)
 
 
 
can you swallow this they erase “long echo of sand” also “pool noise”

interrupt “drawn out whine” betray the disk the substance improves and the

gnat she waits in her bathing dress touch and go
 
 
 
haunted by the speckled cow the little girl with a ribboned bonnet brings in

the cow                 put more early in music                says the speckled cow

moreearlyinsplash
 
 
 
what was it about crackers asked the wench potato mash is cheap pauper tint

to the sky so mermaids sweep out the crones they flit good evening good

evening no treasure
 
 
 
which tree to cut the downward slope of a savannah its bell our land goes

further light drains horizon’s overcast early music
 
 
 
                                   oh promise we shall meet on Ojjiba and swim

underwater my harp is caught in a silver fire of water the planet Ojjiba

looked at that way

Recent books of poetry by the late Barbara Guest (1920–2006) include The Red GazeMiniatures, and Rocks on a Platter: Notes on Literature, all from Wesleyan. In 2003 she published two books of prose: Forces of the Imagination: Writing on Writing (Kelsey Street) and Dürer in the Window: Reflections on Art (Roof). In 1999 she was awarded the Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Poetry Society of America.