Michael Rothenberg

POOLSIDE

whir of distant fans
sheer towered dwellings
impatiens nervous in bay breeze

          Bay State
          "Bay Watch"
          bay leaves

                     slow boiling marinara
brushed on dough under melting soy cheese
           and artichoke, anchovy

           interlocking pink bricks
                       around clorine waters
sunbrowned old man
gray hair under black cap
behind dark glasses
walking across and around
looks at his watch

lawnmower hum
jet roar collapse

             "Time Management"

                         reallocation of existing space
             more time around than I can imagine
                         time enough for questions
                         time enough for wrong answers

laps in red sauce of flesh
I used to be a predator getting in my daily mile
of genital admiration, drugs, sex and fame
             I never could stop wandering

                         poolside pondering a seagull
a wrinkled breast
a boy swimming alone
 

                                   July 8, 1999
 

POOLSIDE 3

            somewhere between night and night
I found the ripple day demanding

            body in a bathing suit
            more naked
            more visible

            the biodataspace shy, secreted, blocked
                                     calling itself

             tropical paradise
             garden of temptation

                          (bark, berry, planter box)

                          voluptuous discretion
                          phenomenal reflection
                                      of sudden being

                                                  then less sudden

writing what I thought down
what I thought I thought down

                        filling in between recollections
            punctuation          space        yellow umbrella
 

POOLSIDE 4

Rubens had the right
idea. "It's a lovely
day"

sewage
island of worm serpent
black moss rock
razor fang
hatching where Nancy
Cosmos and I walk

brunch spread: whitefish,
bagels, Swiss cheese, cole
slaw, sliced ripe tomato

seems like work to be
honored for poetry

             splash
 

             July 11, 1999

 A note on Michael

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