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DISTANTS
Gordon Hadfield
BlazeVOX [books]Buffalo, New York
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Copyright 2009
Published by BlazeVOX [books]
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced withoutthe publishers written permission, except for brief quotations in reviews.
Printed in the United States of America
Book design by Geoffrey Gatza
First Edition
ISBN: 1-934289-75-2
ISBN 13: 978-1-934289-75-4Library of Congress Control Number: 2008933397
BlazeVOX [books]14 Tremaine AveKenmore, NY 14217
BlazeVOX [ books ]
blazevox.org
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Dan Beachy-Quick, Matthew Cooperman, Geoffrey Gatza, ClaudiaKeelan, Myung Mi Kim, Kyle Schlesinger, and Sasha Steensen for their generous feedback.Versions of these poems previously appeared inFence,Denver Quarterly, P-queue, andInterim; Igive my thanks to the editors.
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For Sasha & Phoebe
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
THE NAMER 11
BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY 12
CROSSING THE WALL 18
THE BORDER OF ALL OBLIGATION 24
SATELLITE NATIONS 29
BURROWER/BARRIER 37
DESERT WALL 42
IN THE SUBURBS 50
BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY 58
STRANGE ATTRACTOR 63
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Of the paradise that was not,no one can speak.
Of the place that wasno one can speak.
Michael Palmer, Vamos Viver
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11
THE NAMER
Namer begins every sentence with eyeadjusts his antlers
looks down at the wallto a wolf hiding in wait
to a deer bathing in a riverto three women crossing a border
from our path the surrounding desert is invisibleonly the hollow bones of birds bother speaking:
I cannot be filled with things they cry so I still flyrather than sleepwalk and stumble
the Namer stumbles and sighsthen gives birth to a cracked egg
from our path we see only a featherbefore the fire begins
and we remember the calendarstelescopes observations
of a community based on placeand the limitations of place
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BACK AT THE OBSERVATORY
back at the observatorywe called it a star
we called it essentialbut it was barely visible
our eyes strained from lookingwe called it tender and near
we called it protector
what we rubbed between ourselvescreating heat and light
an obstacle we touched
but when we called it to usit stood still
when we pleaded with heightto let
distancecompress
to let go
star stood stillwall stood still
gone as soon asgotten
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next to the pool with other conference members
other astronomers from California
we project glossy name tagsreminding everyone
the public relations ofcranial measurement
requires a loyalty oathunrelated to skulls
we wall in all accusationsdeny the migratory relation
between solarand terrestrial
bodies
the wall confersa televised event
every piece of merchandisecurls back into blindness
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in GalileosDialogue
Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
every bodynaturally capable of motion
moveswhen set at liberty
drawn by a strange attractor
repositoryof dark matter
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further out than the observatory
a walled landscape
invisible to telescopes
wall replicates large tracthousing
large tracts of skyoverlooking everything
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we walk out to the parking lot
while a phone rings for entry
that is not me enteringor you entering
rippling palms and whitecoats from the wall
this city attracts a treatiseon the ability of a box
to houseeverything
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of all orbits
this one is claimed
immutable
claimed distant
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CROSSING THE WALL
2,100-mile-wallhard to guess the date modified
or recognize a real Indian
early politicians specialized
in getting over
hot air balloons or tri-planesdesigned for meteorological studies
open doorsa man in a jeep shouts at us
without explaining the benefitsof a bulldozer for opening doors
the card catalogueis full fingerprints complete
everything we came for
lost in the tellingtelling lost time
thatis the wall in your desertthis is the wall in mine
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the border is a mnemonic device
for space
that issay nothing
remember the panama canal inwildest form
1 American deer hunter 1 Mujahidinit is gettingvery crowded
a dead little matterour telescope
another explosionwhen the cake is not large enough
consider the episode closedanthem suggests
consider yourself redeemed
your country remedied
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we went to sleep as a countryone border one barrier one burrower
Great Wall of China Israeli West Bank Wall4,163 miles proposed total length 403 miles
under the wall under the grass and the dirtfurther the wall farther the arc of the bird
Berlin Wall93.5 miles
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this dusty town once called
meeting place crossing road
now called checkpointambush
she had come up from Guadalajarahe east of Gaza
their doubleness sneakingcreaking
rocking heels back and forththis is my lament, she said
an untimely shuffle
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many obstacles
many ceremonies for tourists
a seaside border town flat-dustywrought-iron balconies
no newspaper clippingsor carnival people
no cremations for patronsno pins sticking the doll
west-bank wallsouth-west wall
baldfaced head of a ghostwhiteouts and snowstorms
blot the 2,100 mile border:
I got past the palm trees
the fog seven patrol cars
hands out of pocketshands on head
a ridiculous documentin Yuma sector
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numerical miles of wall
add up without acronym
what you promised and what missedsurveillance provided by newspapers:
orange belt sun beltblack sun
every time we watch someonewe catch someone
any-where any-timenever set your foot here
or
on the
other side