by Neeli Cherkovski

so much love
that I want to hide from love
I sit in the garden behind our house
on Bernal Hill thinking rose, tree fern
watching the hummingbird
not a griever or a communist, not
a believer or a capitalist
so much murder
in the name of the people,
so much acrimony
poured into one corner
as the other corner
burns down to a raw nerve
so many experts
on love and fond
regard who choose
the oppressor to
oppress, so many
who know so much
so safe to feel protected
by those who know, those who
love
I wait on the hummingbird
as (he or she) it flits over the fence
carrying no banner save that of a primal dream
of flight and of standing solid mid – air
and it is so all rig

by Neeli Cherkovski 

1

throw the book away
let it decompose
in the stream
throw your pen into a cloud
grazing jagged winter peaks
as governments fall
no love no hate
only steady cold breeze
over a curving coast
no good or bad
just an elk gazing
at the blue void of sky
no mind no science
merely mesquite and
flowers poised to perish

2

he cracked his head
on politics philosophy poetry
then sat by the place where
white rapids begin
a long relentless trip

3

simple rust
on branches
hanging
over a magic screen
words more words
music and words
to bend like an ancient bow

by Neeli Cherkovski

occupy the poem
on its quiet center
and the louder margins

take each letter
and every word
to the limit

cross into emptiness
where memory
tells the story

include endless
observation, spare
not a stone

or a blade of grass.

tell the poem to waltz
over borders,
do not forget to forgive

memory which is merciless.

occupy images
that come alive, do not spare
the wealthy in their enclaves

nor the poor condemned to
the shanty towns, walk the
streets, clear fields

take down the military –
industrial barbed wire divide,
hug the moon

for its splendor
and claim light
that we may abide

occupy the sky
with your sight
and drop – in on inexplicable rhythms

find your poem in the rivers,
go for a language of steep ravines
and freedom’s sure hand

as you travel.

occupy bank vaults,
empty death silos, bring down
the murderers of our tongue

when we should
murder money
tainted by revenge

lift words over barricades,
make the letters run
like cheetahs and soar

ravenesque over
“amber waves,” turn up
the volume on men

who rule over our
song, the poem will ring and
rage, let it come with

the rain, may it fill
the mouth of Wall Street
and run along the avenues

occupy the meaning
in your poem, tell
the silence to make space

and take it, claim
the ground, open
your hand, hold the rose

as it rises, take the poem
to the people, you are “the creature
who runs through the streets”

occupy the enemies
of individual light,
tear the jambs from the doors

by Jack Foley

listening to the astounding
 listening to the astounding
sounds                    Rendition generates tarab, enchantment
sounds
of umm kulthum
of umm kulthum
is like being
is like being
transported
transported
not to
not to
Arabia
Arabia                                          Listening in Egypt is usually participatory:
but to                                                                            audience members call out subtle compliments
but to                                                             or loud encouragement to performers.  Silence some

vas t                                                                             is interpreted as disinterest or dislike.
some vas  t
empty
empty
space
space
filled
filled                                                               Demands are not met by wishing:
with sounds                                                               the world can only be taken
with sounds                                                 by struggle.
akin to
akin to
wailing
wailing

to a mo –
to a mo –                                                        Opinions are complex entities,
an                                                                                     subject to many forces, some
an                                                                   contradictory to one another.

tha –                                                                                 A stated “opinion”
tha –                                              is a kind of selection
t                                                                      from a matrix of forces
t                                                     that swirl around a subject.
breaks loose                                            It is the point of poetry
breaks loose                                to name

into everything                                            the matrix.

and show –
s

and show –
            s

the utter authority
the sheer authority
the vast immensity
the sheer immensity
the all – encompassing
SAHARA

of
pa –
 of
            pa –
in
in

Note: Umm Kulthum was an Egyptian singer, songwriter, and actress.
“More than three decades after her death, she is still recognized as
one of the Arab world’s most famous and distinguished singers of the
20th century.”  Wikipedia