Issue 22: Tony D'arpino
The Tropics of History
the apparent ephemeral
and transient
door of deer
at noon
the buckle
opens like an eclipse
beneath the palms
the smoke
the moving
double
tarnished watch
of the north sea
red inside
the apple chapel
the wind still in my head
like a skin boat
Cosmographers
nowhere island
and the procession artist
virtually the same
melodica
studied the maps
seraph by seraph
and time has come to find
a forgiveness machine
in the broad gauge dream
of the red chamber
a story stone
and wind storm
the clockwork radio
wants your s-shape
seahorse now
Zoology
birds horses birds
beetles bats and hares
fish and snails and spiders
a little sadness
like a sound
in the river sky
a tart
salt water taffy
for lovers of the night
a margate elephant
footnote of whale
sky pulling sky
every city zoo
a small town cage
rusting trains
feathers
great game
poor metal
a gulf of rats
in the thatch
a horse from the woods
shadows
wet
with stars
A Short History of the Allotment
coal mines
some crops still drop
into the hidden caves
an alphabet
based on vegetables
and grapevines
the spiritual violence of the times
makes people
bad
mad
hidden in the forest
with shadow and rime
a mask of a mammal
lost in the signal
where the drummer sings
stepping stars
to the bones
of tone
unfixed powders
dreams of love
and okra
the changing octopus
of consciousness
dots changing
sleeping
waking
tentacles
this summer thinking
bicycle clouds in my eyes
the fence like a pair of glasses
the landscape in my forehead
two fingers take it blue
thinking about the mill
gets a headache
toy rainbow water
engine of the buttonwoods
the coffee ruined again
by the black hand of memory
the Vermont and the not
(blue) prairie schooner
Tony D’Arpino is an American poet living in England. His most recent book of poetry is Floating Harbour (Redcliffe Press, UK). Other poetry has appeared in Molly Bloom, Barrow Street, The Clearing, Poetry East, and Glasgow Review of Bookss.
Copyright © 2019 by Tony D'Arpino, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of Copyright law. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.
