Column 05/2018

A solitary day, autumn, several blocks north of downtown, in Oregon’s capital, I am on my way to work, while driving southbound on liberty street southeast, which is a one way passage into downtown, and while navigating the grey cotton light; the houses and structures on both sides of the street are witnesses to the three lanes of heavy traffic that flow by ..

Houses, in the area, are allowed mix-used zoning and therefore numerous businesses exist within these home-like structures, such as agencies for attorneys or dentists or account executives, although most noticeable to me, I am driving skillfully but I occasionally multi-task, are the preponderances of business signage, on lawns or attached to building facades, which boldly state the name of the particular business and its business services, all of which are indicated with a few concise words ..

Examples, of types of services: patents and estates, or eye care and optics, or employment law and dispute resolution, or silent room and pastoral services, or spa and advanced aesthetics, or finance and economic arts ..

I could wish for a business of my own, perhaps with a illustrative sign in front of a well-manicured Victorian house, and the signage could state – author facility, in a large robust font and it could state – poetics and casual prose, in much smaller though an equally sturdy font ..

If should I have a first customer – the client upon entering, would presumably inquire about the price per poem or ask about the durability of a particular portion of casual prose and I would honestly suggest a sampling, a tasting, of the texts ..

try it, if you will, before you buy it ..

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putting the miscellaneous numb inevitability aside,

of the back & forth downbeat motoring to work,

under a staggering velocity of clouds,

surrounded by the voices of trains,

the syncopations of car wipers,

& the texture of fog of vapors,

in this autumn, more or less,

it has been quite easy

to lose our selves

in the melodic,

water music,

the rain/s

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Check out the audio recording of the poem: