on a wobbling speck
a big rock weathered funny
this dream pops. it was real;
and it lasted forever.
For a Stone Girl at Sanchi―Gary Snyder (with a nod to Joni again)
on a wobbling speck
runny trippy, zen as now
blowing / peaking us away that
bear-shit-on-the-trail school [1]
a big rock weathered funny
stoner girl, planet earth
muscle tone[2] deep ecology, spaced
out cycles for…ever (shudder)
this dream pops. it was real;
it was spacey / the real deal
re-imagined, irreparable,[3] back in
a garden wrong side of grass
and it lasted forever.
plenty agora freak-outs to go round
fly a starship thru, no raison here
just the eye of the needle [4]
[1] As snidely said of Snyder, Whalen, Welch (& Rexroth too)
[2] Allen Graves, “A Look at Gary Snyder” (TISH newsletter, no. 10,1962): “we have these two qualities in Snyder… a sensual delight in movement of muscles and sounds, and a sense of progressions, of continuities.”
[3] Just released Robin Blaser biography: the “Irreparable” is foundational, as was “the Real” in our ‘70s grad school.
[4] Excuse school French. Also, can’t recall which of the progressive theologists notes “camel through the eye of a needle” is a mistranslation for “raison,” which tells a pretty fruitful story.
Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet with 24 books in print. His personal papers are archived in the “Contemporary Literature Collection” at Simon Fraser University. His website is stephenbett.com