[Photo of Manhattan (left) and Brooklyn Bridges (right) is in the public domain]

What a strange thing! 
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms. - Kobayashi Issa


1


From the roof tonight 
sighing after Brooklyn Bridge 
and that Other*** so 
close beside 

blue curves shape 
city-glow orange into pink into 
rose 

letting their girders
down they follow me to my little 
room at last 

the bare bulb astonished

brightens

after all the years they have 
winked from tenement distances 
over tar over stoops disturbing 
only the prudish pigeons


through my open window 
with their faithful light 
they finally arrive 

this night of wavering curtains  


2


I recline then

stuporous on the 

sag sofa beside 

the black mirror


evening air heavy 


from certain blossoms

a pungent semen smell 


Kobayashi? can 'stain' rhyme with 'Spring'? 

Will 'Spring' ever rhyme again with 'screen' or 'crane'?  


3


One touches the other which touches me

I am become a massive bird
bent backwards

a wobbling kite of tallow and tin
a bruised three-blade fan

petroleum kisses over
massive cables between coiled

legs those others of mortar 
of hot metal glow 

the handsome welder masked sings 
into the retina of his dark glass 

of a strange 
thing breached 

entwined with bridges
a bloated form of
tangled arcs/angles

how lips chafe 
gently the many 
necks curved 
of alloy
million-groined 


4


A Balthus**** mirror

breaking

drunk on blossoms


my youth 

swayed

easily seduced 

by bridges

*

nothing's changed 

about me now

that can surprise

discreet ginkgoes

it is spring 

after all

*

nothing to do Mr. Kobayashi 

but to open the worn book with

your name upon it and try again 

page by yellow page

like you to be a mensch *****


>>><<<

*Kobayashi Issa  was a Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū sect known for his haiku poems and journals. He is better known as simply Issa (一茶), a pen name meaning Cup-of-tea (lit. "one [cup of] tea"). He is regarded as one of the four haiku masters in Japan, along with Bashō, Buson and Shiki — "the Great Four." - edited from wikipedia on Kobayashi

**Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet who wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, The Bridge, Crane sought to write an epic poem...that expressed a more optimistic view of modern, urban culture. In the years following his suicide at the age of 32, Crane has been hailed by playwrights, poets, and literary critics alike, as being one of the most influential poets of his generation. - edited from wikipedia entry on Crane

***Manhattan Bridge is just north of Brooklyn Bridge, both bridges join Manhattan and Brooklyn on the east side of the East River.

****Balthus - Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, best known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. Throughout his career, Balthus rejected the usual conventions of the art world. Some of his most well known paintings are of swooning young girls or women gazing into handheld mirrors in lonely, well-appointed interiors. - edited from wikipedia entry on Balthus

*****mensch - a Yiddish word for a person of integrity and honor.