Two public art projects sponsored by Art Esprit in Rochester, NH, include my work in conjunction with artists Larry Reynolds and Diane St Jean.
Read an article about “The Shoes of Rochester” in the Rochester Times and in the Art Esprit blog. Click here to download a pdf to learn more about the project. The shoe sculpture that my poem was written on was a skate (Years ago, Rochester had an indoor roller skating rink called the Humoresque.)
Manny Skating
At the far end of the frozen pond, looping
and dipping, arms locked behind his back, he bends
and shifts on long, supple legs. To watch him skate
is to follow a swallow’s flight.
To watch him roller skate! waltzing around the indoor rink
through a smog of pink lights, a pretty girl on his arm,
weaving her through the fabric of slower couples
like a tailor’s needle.
Learn more about the project “If These Rocks Could Talk” here.
Stones: A History
Glacier
(retreating)
Notches
(clawed)
Low coastal hills
(beating sea, glacial till)
A tombolo of sand and rocks
(tumbled)
New land (Dreamland)
(rising)
Above high water
hot summer stones for Piscataqua to dry fish
striated stones under the boots of tall ship sailors
flattened stones for Sunday skipping
Among stones
the purple mussel wampum shell
sea glass
(rum & medicine & Coke bottles, old car blinkers)
twists of polypropylene
plastics like beached jellyfish
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