PERCUSSION

Variables  2017             Ed Touchette

percussion from the truck
on the flatiron
call of a gull
over the wall
knee high rubber boots
on the old man
In the parking lot
and on the young mother
who uses them gardening
a fall climbing the rocks
unbalanced by the bag
full of water and clothes
pulled up by a young woman
who says Be Careful
her friend offers a path
No Thanks It’s poison ivy

Melissa de Haan Cummings
6 June 2019

 

Melissa de Haan Cummings majored in French and English Literature at Bryn Mawr. She has published poetry in a number of journals.  She describes her interests as including, “much small boating around Cape Ann, love of Charles Olson, Hatha yoga practice since 1969.”

 

 

COMMON IRISH VALUES

Lane's Cove. Antonio Cirino (1889-1983)

Lane’s Cove. Antonio Cirino (1889-1983)

Spring morning bright

shining grass

alone

around Lane’s Cove

 

Mail Lady arrives

hops out

breaks up treats

Dog in truck

sniffs for more

 

Sun through

yellow tulip petals

dropping shadows

 

An hour on a flat rock

behind the wall

near his easel

with infrequently met Eddy

was in The Lorraine sleeping

when it burned down

lost two hundred paintings

didn’t matter so much as

the people of Gloucester

were so giving gave each

thirty five hundred dollars

I gave a small truck bed

filled with winter clothes

 

Eddy was married to a WASP

When they went out to dinner

she wouldn’t look at the servers

She was brought up that way

Her family wore clothes

with holes in them

Ridiculous!

And had an old station wagon

How did you know?

Brought up with them

After the fire

my ex let me stay with her

for as long as I liked

She had a huge place

Children?  Horses

 

My life to him his to me

Common Irish values

Chelsea and Cambridge

 

Joe Roderick said

When I broke my elbow

it didn’t heal right

See these bumps?

My buddy was jumping

off his roof onto the porch

and I didn’t have time

to pull my arm back

broke folded the wrong way

pieces of bone everywhere

They gimme a cast

but I cut it off

It was smelly

I was lobstering at the time

Bait got in it

 

Can I play goal with

one arm?  Yah!

Hangman?

Hint   It’s near my shoes

and it’s red

Water Bottle

This is done outdoors

Bouble Play!

 

Melissa de Haan Cummings

May 10, 2016

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMelissa de Haan Cummings majored in French and English Literature at Bryn Mawr. She has published poetry in a number of journals.  She describes her interests as including, “much small boating around Cape Ann, love of Charles Olson, Hatha yoga practice since 1969.”

Ten Pound Island

© 2016 Louise Welch

© 2016 Louise Welch

rugged with
gulls
toughened by
raw weather by
unpeopled
growth stench
rust & wash
barrels & wire
gulls protest when
we land
on the beach
poke among
shells climb to the green
so high she thinks
of snakes
does not proceed
under the gull hover
to visit the light
the rust but feels textures
in the sand with wet feet
hauls a little on the painter
keeps her head to wind

Melissa de Haan Cummings

 

melissa2bcummingsMelissa de Haan Cummings majored in French and English Literature at Bryn Mawr. She has published poetry in a number of journals.  She describes her interests as including, “much small boating around Cape Ann, love of Charles Olson, Hatha yoga practice since 1969.”

GREEN WEED

"View from the Ledge" 1975. Nell Blaine (1922-1996)

“View from the Ledge” 1975.
Nell Blaine (1922-1996)

Green weed

Tawny tufts

were flowers

Mushrooms climb

a listing tree

Carpets of oak

and brown pine

needles over gray

rock and root

A light shower

accelerates the dogs

The tie to my hoodie

sways

December pansies

loving the mist

the fog horn

from the lighthouse

South easterly gusts

darken yesterday’s

northeasterly swells

suck back around

smooth and ancient

boulders by thistle

and bitter sweet

green weed

Melissa de Haan Cummings

17 December 2015

melissa2bcummingsMelissa de Haan Cummings majored in French and English Literature at Bryn Mawr. She has published poetry in a number of journals.
She describes her interests as including,“much small boating around
Cape Ann, love of Charles Olson, Hatha yoga practice since 1969.”