Saturday, June 25, 2011

The Tire Swing Repeats Everything



One long swing
                        a flat arc slowly
                                                along a long line
                       of stretched Manila.

    They live here
                        and know and let
                                                  lovers ride their tire

                                      at night.
  Less of every other thing
                                       than this arc slowly.

                                                                    Without the sun the sky
                         is alight with every other star.

        In the dark
                       make one long swing
                                                     flat arc slowly let
                                                                             lovers ride their tire
                                                          and live here.

                 The still spot at the end
                                                    is the pivot: how
                                                                            it stretches out
                                                     for miles between
                      the tree and the road.
There their living
                     room light is on.

                                            My wife, laughing
                                                                     makes one long swing
                                         for miles in the dark

               The tree shadows
half the sky
                half the arc beneath

   the open sky
                    at night
 shows every other thing

     At night everything
                               the sun showed each
                                                           shadows together
                                with the dark ground.

         Every other star
across half the sky.

Half the arc
              stretches out
                               for miles over the dark ground
   between the tree's
                               shadow and the road's.

          She floats, still.
Pivots, moving still,
                      stretching out slowly
                                                for miles, laughing.

                                                                           By me
                                                           on the grass
                       looking up from the ground
at her in the sky.

                   Tucked in to the grass and ground
                                                                 all roots and earth
                                                                                        and everything else buried
                                                            and shaded, looking up
                                  at her swing, the sky
     and everything else.

Your slung weight
                       on the way down builds.
 The ground pulls down.

                                  Then you rise
                                                    out and away, a little
                                                                                   lighter always until
                                                                       that floating.
                                              You weigh nothing
                 and pivot to fall again

  along one arc
                    pivoting slowly.

                                          Lovers, laughing, float
                                at night
      between shadows
over the dark ground.

You're hanging on hard
                                  at the lowest point
                                                            your weight slung closest
                                     to the dark ground.

That is when you move fastest.

                                               It is the pull of everything else
                                                                                         buried and shaded
                                                                                                               on your slung weight
                                                                                     that moves you fastest
                                                                along the long arc
                                                     for miles

                                        in their yard
                 between the tree
    and their light,
laughing.

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