In the Pink Distance
by Bill Yarrow
in the pink distance
a mustached man with a broken arm
is smoking a clove cigarette
and reading Regis Debray
in the pink distance
a boy in a corduroy shirt
sits before an upended electrical spindle
and drinks a vodka gimlet
in the pink distance
a young woman in a juice bar
is dangling a strapless sandal
from the end of a suntanned toe
in the pink distance
a policeman in a checkered cap
eyes four youths
carrying a barricade
in the pink distance
a paperback copy of The Will To Power
leans against the Shocken edition
of Kafka's Letters to Felice.
in the pink distance
people gather in a downtown park
to make origami boats and
listen to flutes
in the pink distance
a car becomes a kitchen
a road becomes a map
a picnic table becomes a bed
in the pink distance
lyricism is legion and everyone
comes to believe participation
is an expression of affection
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Author's Note
This poem appears in WRENCH (erbacce-press, 2009)
The poem appears in Pointed Sentences (BlazeVOX, 2012).
I like the echo here. And "a car becomes a kitchen
a road becomes a map
a picnic table becomes a bed"
Good piece, Bill.
Like this. Stanzas 1, 3, 6, and 7 are my favorites.
I, too, liked the echo. It's haunting. It made me think of the byways of more rural Japan.
I love the repetition which strengthens the concept of the future being rosy ... or not?
Fav
I personally like the concrete specificity of this:
a paperback copy of The Will To Power
leans against the Shocken edition
of Kafka's Letters to Felice.
in the midst of all those other images/ideas.
I really like this, and I agree with Myra: I was left wondering about the last stanza. "...and everyone/ comes to believe..." has a bite to it, if read a certain way. And I like that, too.
This expresses, and so beautifully, a thing I've always wanted to express, but for which I never had the words. That's what poetry should do. Sort of like satori oughtta be, what the buddha would be seeing all at once in any given moment, no? Stunning poem. "...lyricism is legion..." knockout stuff. I could go on...