Sport 7: Winter 1991
♣ Gregory O'Brien — Falls
♣ Gregory O'Brien
Falls
for Marsden Hartley
Ending with storms
in the perfect costume
of an autumn
the sun made fast
by riderless waves—
a wedding among
sand dunes on a windy day
the dunes unfolding, moving
around the guests.
To while these afternoons
away alone, the boy
to follow
in your footprints
a while, or run ahead.
An American on the beach
won't walk with us
to the waterfall
('In the States we make
waterfalls, but can't
manage oceans').
This afternoon
a small country,how could
I miss you there?
To think of the weather
as always this fine
which might explain the
long lives of flowers
on the table, a vine
growing over the
Volkswagen, two roadside
signs, one announcing
JESUS WILL RETURN
the words added:
'to surf Raglan'
and another:
JESUS SAVES
'stamps'. To move
these half-truths to
truth, this man outside
shovelling in the ground
car parked among music-stands
a boy carrying a wooden
coffin containing
a trumpet. Between you
and I, everything
we know, a small country
of charms, virtues, how could
I miss you there?