Saturday, February 25, 2012

February 2012 Selection #1

pair a dice

loose cotton trousers

a shade or two darker than the sand

bare feet

both rough and soft

the breeze stirs palm fronds

and they speak the voice of every afternoon

an elephant on the beach

shakes his head, ears flapping

children, barely clad, swirl in eddies behind

laughing, dusty, like crickets

in the dry brush on barren hills

i follow

and the elephant climbs through an open window

welcoming

with deep eyes

his trunk tickles my palm

the schoolroom has no walls

and the wind stirs the palm fronds

propped on sticks again

she sits within and without

neither old nor young

a book open in her hand

and eyes lost on an endless horizon

she is all gaunt sharp angles

her skin polished teak

smoky hair tied back with a severe thong

she sees me with eyes both tired and kind

i sit at her feet in the sand and whisper

“But I don’t even know what to ask.”


--Robert Weeks

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