Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MARIN HEADLANDS, by JANE MILLER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MARIN HEADLANDS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Grief as we know it
Last Line: Bugless and treeless and airless and waterless and sunless.
Subject(s): California; Conversation; Knowledge


Grief as we know it
and pity as we know it,
the roaring foggy darkness as we know it,
love as we know it
and beauty and magnetism,
energy, as we know it,
as we have come to know it,
relationship and intimacy, as we know,
the great earthquake, life, as we know it,
tension, destiny, family,
movement at the subtlest level of function, as we know it,
human beings as we know them,

California, the blue dolphin,
the eucalyptus, the umbrella pine, the coastline,
as we have come to know them,
the mist, the lovers, the children,
the aging, the homebound, the irreversible,
these, as we have come to know them, the homosexual's parade,
the mayor's limousine, the homeless's cape of newspaper,
as we call them, our plate of food our rings our fresh haircuts
our meager donation our writers our poetry, as we have come to know it
our education our manner our estate our transportation our travel
our privacy our privilege as we have come to know it our sexuality
our vision as we know it

lightning as it is known, plants, peaches, wine,
failure, esteem, faith,
the future, as it is known, the noun,
as we have come to know it,
a "thought" as we know it, a "commitment" a "vote" a "religion"
as we know them,
ghosts, tempests, gods -- the days, the instances,

the dream, as we know it, the poetic, the pacific, the allegorical,
the excuse, as we know it, the error,
the meaning, as we have come to know it, far away,
as we have come to know it, death, as we know,
heaven as it is known, and timelessness and grace, as is
expected to know, and as we have come to,

loathing, avarice,
a drink, a safety net, a parent, a dog, a weapon, a
response, a paddle, a marine, a debutante, a quarter,
a parasite, without knowing it, a minor actor, a case in point,
a husband, a weekend, without knowing, an admission,
a clue, without knowing, a country, a pope,

land rights, tenants, garages, inventory,
without knowing them, a twenty-seven year old, without knowing it,
it, itself, them, themselves,
as we know without knowing

private parties with ribs barbequed, embroidery of dead names,
the state of Russian music, the modern sensibility, as it is known,
the telecommunications network, the criminal element, as they are
known, the "wall," the "bomb," the "communist," the "TV," the "free,"
as they are variously known
and now me, without knowing, as is generally known,
me, as the sea and sky appear to know without knowing,
and you, knowing full well, without knowing,

"plump girls pinched with butter," "babies with roses and baby roses,"
January, February, June and July,
lipstick and blood, as they are associated and known,
as we have come to know our home, our place, our time, our
hour, our
favorite,
dark beach as we have come to,

in agreement, with little else to say, as a matter of course,
silenced, not a moment too soon, without further ado, without
a word in edgewise

the mere mention of three in the afternoon, a Tuesday in summer,
memories, as they are variously known
and were to have been understood and, commonly, forgiven,
this choice and those images and that situation
and this conclusion,
these approximations and those generalizations, as we know
and fear them,
as is our nature, toothy, hairy, spiny,

a faultline of carmine poppies, raspberries,
spring green gullies, grasses
and ravens,
a place never seen, the imagination as we know it,
bugless and treeless and airless and waterless and sunless.





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