Poems
Encode
first come the senses
hundreds of flush blossoms, fragrance, spring curled around blue sky
hippocampus with frontal cortex analyzes sensory inputs
beings bridge the distance between bodies and tree—same speed—thus motionless
long-term memory-worth
cherry blossoms bloom beyond change
bits stored in various parts of brain
clap of thunder, movement of water
a message leaps and connects across gaps between nerve cells at synapse
windflowerrain
dendrites, feathery tips of brain cells, extend to neighboring cells
one blossom bears many blossoms
electrical firing releases neurotransmitters
lightning against fence posts
diffuse across spaces between cells
inflorescence snow across the earth beneath trees (mind-ground)
as changes occur at synapses and dendrites, more connections created
outsidein
first you pay attention
mountains, river, and earth
much is filtered out
thorn bushes
how you pay attention determines what you remember
old branches, which do not reach
Storage
stages serve as filters, keep one from overwhelming flood
her favorite color red, as part of her (in)eternal palate, a warm color
sensory juncture allows perception—visual, a sound, a touch
she takes her color and puts it into any operation
impulses linger, a moment, after stimulation ends
takes the feeling of touch, makes it a green room
a short term phenomenon breezes in after the flash
she remembers his number, brushed in orange
repetition made the shift to long term more promising
“Lady Sings the Blues” is still her favorite song because
she holds the information of him, indefinitely
Retrieval
from unconscious to conscious mind by will
painting the horse
some memory components are more efficient than others
to penetrate one thing is to penetrate many things
for example, she forgets where she left the paintbrush
a failed attempt to be intimate with the stroke
no memory of its location
still, when she paints she experiences the brush directly
no mismatch between cues and encoding
her realization
she could retrieve the memory accurately
words, letters, and shapes a remedy for satisfaction
Under the Home
under mind’s home, there are many homes
and beneath many homes a memory mansion
children play records, mouth initials of those they love
over and over windows burst wide open
a mansion made of stone binds to self
not a slippery slope up—years open-armed—
but connection between mind and moving
below the memorabilia
small fingers coadunate mind and world
clockmaker or cartographer
there is a reason to resist home
Wild Kingdom
The invisibility in question can just as well be described as my getting lost in the landscape: as my becoming one with it.
Edward Casey
crowded around the meat
zebras' entrails to sky
vultures neck deep at the carcass corral
if place drew one inward to this landscape
outward to book: the desert, the dust, the death
who knows the house
or neighborhood
spectacle and fear its own dwelling
this morning a deer tears across neighbor’s yard
there’s not a sound through the window to hear it
Breath
The mist stuck in your lungs, as did the landscape.
Breasts barring horizontally, in the old growth above you, belong.
Like you, forming long-term pair bonds.
You waited to wander the island with such inseparability.
The division of one heart from all others is delusion
as the natural tree hollows hold hatched young.
A catch in the throat. See also the heart leaf spring beauty,
Claytonia cordifolia—in the forest understory or streambanks.
Candy-shaped little flowers, materialize on meandering stems.
Notes
“Breath” was written for Miguel, Adria, & Magdalene Magrath (after Laynie Browne). It appeared in recorded form in Delirious Hem 2011: http://delirioushem.blogspot.com/2011/12/breath_03.html.
Deborah Poe is the author of the poetry collections the last will be stone, too (2013), Elements <http://www.stockportflats.org/elements.htm> (2010), and Our Parenthetical Ontology <http://www.custom-words.com/poe.html> (2008), as well as a novella in verse, Hélène <http://furniturepressbooks.com/books/poehelene/> (2012). In addition, Deborah is co-editor of Between Worlds: An Anthology of Fiction and Criticism <http://www.amazon.com/Between-Worlds-Anthology-Contemporary-Criticism/dp/1433111578> (2012) and In/Filtration: An Anthology of InnovativeHudson Valley Poetry <http://www.stationhill.org/books/title/in/filtration-(working-title):-an-anthology-of-hudson-valley-innovative-poetics> (2013). Deborah writes fiction and poetry. Her poetry is forthcoming or has recently appeared in Handsome, Eccolinguistics, 1913, Shampoo, and Denver Quarterly. Deborah is assistant professor of English at Pace University, Westchester, and founder and curator of the annual Handmade/Homemade Exhibit <http://handhomemade.wordpress.com/> . For more information, visit http://www.deborahpoe.com.
