Archipelago Sequence
(hawaii)
i
(waikiki beach)
lines of diamond head spine
crack the sky
low waves break
though winter pulls
up higher
up here from plane
or tower
the white waves slow, cinematic
the dilating island shores up
out (at the start)
of two shades of blue
after that
it's up to you
ii
(partial object/sunrise)
roots of day
cry out
life guards sleep
a lit cake floats by, massive
it will be eaten
banyan under moon and palm
roots tangle down lower branches
seeking ground
sand like coffee grounds
diamond head sleeps in a zoo of lights
honolulu airport spins out plane after winking plane
angling up over still night sky
iii
(diamond head)
they thought diamonds in the tuff
heads cratered in greed
waves shading
out over black shoal coral beaches
now the diamond screams
out echoing up canyon/hotel streets
mean but flowered with meaning
steep layered pink and soju green soak up
careen and stucco
staccato horned traffic
diamond head
dry even in rain
taxis mill in the swill of tourism
caked edges of crater edge away steeply
surfers zigzag bug-like
behind a lighthouse
auras of round wave spread thick and thin
pout and spine of canyon tuff through which
thread lines of bird flight
iv
(rainforest/layers)
rain & leaves talk
layered against lava mountain sides
red flowers caulk the chinks
in a cabinfever dense forest
shot through with bird song
but bird song only in
spaces between rain songs
droning leathery dark spawns
of orography
fish down at chinatown
ply tepid lower reaches on river street
infrastructures rot
beneath pipes & valves
frilled with plump vibrant flowers
cinammon and sweet basil
v
(driven/shore)
drove all day
out of waikiki
defiant fists after
trapped four days in rooms or elevators
of insipid interior faux-talk
out here base layer is wave
crackle & yowl through the dark
the crickets the ever-present wave
friendly or mountain scary
water on lava on reef
below crater
the mighty fall again as the moon
mingles & lights
let's go
vi
guava and eucalyptus
gape and roll in
octopus tree bole undergrowth
white trunk scoured in sunshine
lightning bolt pink flesh of bark
flashes red down gully
streaming cool blue of mountain streams
down lava rock coral under crashing waves
black under sea under green
under white undulant foaming spray
and fan of the bird's tail
purls in against
sapphire gone cerulean
play of long sad pine needles
matted speghettini thin
and spiked pliant lizard-scale tendrils
wend and wind upon acid brown soil
albino cricket pink and grey
and yellow faintest puff of cloud
streaming sediment down across brain-coral
spider in a hole the crabs play
as low tide sounds down
holding in it's fist the splay
of tonight's moon stand
hollow echo rooster crow
and our sleep
vii
humpback whale albatross monk seal
again and against the sea
the repeated thunder the warnings
this song
any song repeated to thunder is thunder
is tribe to the knell of a moon-scree
daylong nightlong hell of water
water crashing on black lava dikes
on emerald spikes
at angles all deadly
while whale seal and bird play whirl
jump and dive
sand rainbows ply a jungle valley
roving mists of rain move up and down
defying gravity slopes
beach sand thicker than a moon's hand
underground battling for power
to burst
into sponge-orange millipede dust rain
cliffs of pining and
sadist poverty of soil ferocious mounds
of ground up coral the last curve round the road
to paradise a split-second glimpse
of naked full breasts above
waves and black
crusts of lava
viii
(currency/conversion)
loop down from surfer-town
through pineapple kingdoms
of wide-valley red-clay
lucent grass and hay
undulant seams
down into unforeseen
surprising honolulu skipping past
just escaping the city
and back through rain-processed
always-feel-down towns
smoking hazy folding up towns
beneath cliffs
green and smoking at dusk
burnt ahi taco dust of slain
and ancient labouring hands
ix
(turtle bay)
mountain spines look down banyan vines
into roots of other places
cloud/turtles rise into dry updrafts
scented with warm eucalyptus
binaries of dry/wet
break down across high divides
as fine rain begins/descends
jungle slits open into red
flowering with hand-sized dragonfly
dents of pain in temples
butterflies plane along
gliding through strata
air water and gut
to land on mint a fine shade of amethyst
boulder of sun caught in currents
of shining grey-green whale-dust
auras of giddy release in whole trees
whole hillsides suddenly shot through with bird song
pain legs a rush of panic
fear and envy tomorrow to leave
but glide down sane
x
(plane ride in)
toronto spools out
from bluffs and water
stained with sediment
arrows of fear
swept by height
bank out
over lake ontario
a morning shoreline scan
glints veins of post-rush traffic
short haul out the quinte way
after burbs dribble away
drumlins blister under
brown and white earth-skin
trees sprout like hair
islands and peninsulas
float brain matter flattened
mapped out and partly frozen
down now
to kingston and
home that does not
feel like home