High forest liana to divide a valley nuts to rubber
Plumed grass a gold and rock salt river
Outside Don Pecho and the Sea
To fertilize the granite shallows in dry season
myriad tormenting insects rage the course
Draw up low the inundation of a bad Pass tiny ten knot steamers
Lichens as puffy corals grown the ground
all species considerable
Annual high density valuables travel the motor road
Sediments clearly express the rapids of white water
Weathered diversity enhanced by micronutrients
Narrows or Pongos no less missionary the little steamer
Lewis and brother-in-law to Matthew slave and wealth the rubber
Backwater latex trade expands three million miles
Andes to the Amazones woman an independent kingdom and a queen
To use the bow there is some indication only a single breast
Moon worship or the goddess is Diana
Asiatic Artemis herself an Amazon
Particularly water to Atlantic at Belem this longest river
on the earth is unknown at the source
From dusk a million bats fan out the night
Morning and evening raucous voice the Toucan clatter music
streamside bush goatsucker and the white whippoorwill
Giant armadillo and the second also eaten capybara
Through time the hangnets huge to watch and wait
With night alert to work in dead tree trunks or aerial processions
Of sand and clay both overlook the steep sea
Deep beds that disappear half east and west
Archipelago level wooded of a hundred humid days
Into Brazil from Para a scanty nomad tribe in thirsty possession
a vast and great display of reefs nineteen in number
Boiling torrent whirlpool swell Brazil uncertain
Three rafts American in August frightful torrents this the Orinoco
Pongo Maseriche only the gods ascend is the tradition
water as river-torn
Ascend the Andes reaching is so gentle
A railway line runs western shore the Lake Lugano
while at the southern end is Lecco by extremity the sea
Being a surviving witness to an ancient limestone bed cut
through remarkably
The Lake with two arms Como at the bay
Breva wind blows from the south
making an Alpine sung by Virgil afternoon
Two Plinys in a morning celebration to
shores now bordered the most lovely spot Bellagio
High promontory is exposed to storms by north Tivano
winds small villages that line the lake
Adda splendid beauty finds its way to join the Po
Two campanile and some good pictures
Como as a business town episcopal see of Lombardy is reached
by rail
Refer to earth
Compare ten thousand things and not five emperors
Man laboring a reputation only to give it up
No calamity presents with this indeed floodwater life
Time ends at the beginning
Arable land devoured as swells the city
Never empty is the Yangtze
All the waters in the Yellow River
Sitting with heaven and earth not for one anthill
Breathing yin to yang on one small tree
Nine province mountain grain
Boats and carts pass once rice paddy landscape
Smiling she now positions stones within the golf course for
the villa where just last year she planted rice
A China now of bodyguards
"No indeed" says Jo of the north sea Lord of the River
"Who debates such matters what is small or large the point of view
regards a thing as big. I myself am not aware of how the thing
works."
Gullies canyonsize gouge famous yellow earth of loess soil
fluffy texture and fertility
Old Yellow River fantasy a rural tapestry
The Yellow Sovereign known as the Daoist-alchemist of Han myth
approaches a hut near the Eastern Islands of the Sea. The painting
has a mystic waterfall imbued with the force of the mountains which
drop into space from an unidentified source. The water's activity
in the foreground is more true to life and the flow of the river
more natural in an area beyond the painting. Although the artist
Shao Mi was probably confined to his bed at the time and in no
condition to climb mountains, he painted a continuing path which
did not end even in the last painting of the series.
"No indeed" says Jo of the North Sea "the small tip of a hair will
do. Comprehend the level road as not paltry."
Know the lucky, see the tortoise shell and draw the stalk
Inner man no entrance from without no implement
The Tao speaks and speech stops the road of many names without
words
Streams flowing to perfection The dogs bark well.
Fourth in the islands rural
sees no travelers if time permits
Pilgrim temples marked by roadsigns walking all in white
across the greater whirlpools of Naruta strait follow the
temple road enhanced by inquiries of planting
Ferry from Shima jikokuhyu guide
Ritsurinkoen garden
Takamatsou ship has service planned from Honshu and Kyushu
another will eventually link
all greater whirlpools shown on current service
With puppets from Osaka join the crazy dance again that goes
the whole night
No travel time permits the pillars and the earth forms
Sakura space in cherry trees are rather off the beaten track
A fine view of the sea
Happy to introduce the guests to zen
high above and over the Inland sea Silver Beach the
northmost point
Follow me the legend to the cave of Momotaro only a boy
Followers they say a pheasant, dog and monkey entered there
subdue a den of demons
tip the wildness for a lighthouse with small rocks
quarried in the middle
tram by gardens Hoodoos like Alberta
forms like human earthworks seen by double decker bridge
and seashells sold at reasonable prices
walking especially in Spring the pilgrimage of Edo
sixty days to do the gate remains
by bus the lookout there provides shaped weathering in stone
the leaves in numbers are especially fine
Shodo Island is by motor car with wild monkeys
Buddhist pilgrims west in the winter walk mittens and
leggings many rivers over
A pleasant promenade of red pines Miramoto Clan
Pilgrim at the Dogo spa
an infant Emperor flees further west
Ocean legend of the treasure diver in the Noh play
Chemicals are special here as well as ships and processed foods
experience is beauty best and from the air
Dragon fabric universe and serpent egg
A kind of round not folding fan the specialty
from Bread and Water by Alison Knowles. Left Hand Books, 1995. 70 pp. $18.00.
Note:
While baking bread for herself and friends, Alison Knowles became fascinated by the cracks, depressions, and bumps in the bread's surfaces. She photocopied the bread and then made palladium prints from the xeroxes. In the process, she noticed that the patterns in the bread resembled waterways: rivers with their related lakes, marshes, etc. She analyzed maps to find river systems that matched the patterns in the bread. She used the templates to edit words and phrases from literary and naturalist sources in her texts. The portions of four of the prints with the images of bread are presented here along with their associated poems.
— K.Y.
Light and Dust @ Grist Mobile Anthology of Poetry.