Michael Rothenberg

1951 / Miami Beach, Florida

The Big River

Hear my name in sleep, rephrase
deep sitting. tin of salmon fresh in morning's lampless house
unheated dreams come and go out
table stead for dictionary
toast. sparrow under horse's hoof
poof, no trembling weight
friendly melancholy
apple pie, apple salve, ginger apple bread
butter sauce over Smokey Mountains
emerald boat of Zeus and Daphne
honey-colored oak. teacher's gruff instruction
Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum
clear throat. less outcome. overcome axis 19th c.
Colombian tubas floating moonlit deck
shoals of Queen's Islands
El Presidente's stone summer retreat
coming down out of D.C. Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama
Civil War. creek food for fishes. soup kit dishes
rebuttal. antidotal predator fattens thinning habit
movement doesn't stay
114 Total read