we 4

Pavel Sterin

Writing Exercise #4

A. Citation

            Canyons, paths


dug thru the snow
                       

Tunnels

The walls as high as

Shoulders

The weight of it

Heavier

When it begins to melt

& then, at sunset

still midafternoon

the temperature drops

wind over the ridge

so that by dawn

each surface

hardens into face

Dams clog the drains

To turn the window

Facing north

Into a waterfall…

Driving north

Past the mall turn, King

Of Prussia, past Bridgeport

And the narrow brick streets of Norr’stown

The road eases up, what

Was once country

Into a more purely rural

Subarbiana (gold course blanketed in white

A gas station that has not yet turned into a minimart…

On my way to the mall, I stopped by a gas station and made my way into the mini mart. I purchased a bottle of water as well as a pack of hard candy. Before I stepped back into my car I felt the wind harden as it hit my face. I shrugged my shoulders and opened the pack of candy that melted in my mouth. I turned the car on and made my way north towards the UTC mall.

B. Detournement

Swath cut

By the powerlines

Right thru the old quarry, the pit

Filled with water

Is called a lake, each

New townhouse with its private dock

Tho if you look upstairs

You will discover the doors to the closets

All made of vinyl

Someone in another room is signing the alphabet

Barely visible in the high slush

Fog mixed with rain

A woman waits for her bus

The form of the flower

Exfoliating

Petals dropping away

To reveal a new, further flower

Now red, now blue

Each shape a perpetual

Revision, this

Leaf thick and milky, this

Spiky, hard, this

Covered with the finest fuzz, blossoms…

Filled with water, it is called a lake, and in it each new townhouse has a private dock…my parents and I made our annual trip to Big Bear Lake, California. It was almost time to take the boat out for a spin. I went back to the cabin to fetch my iPod and some snacks. On the way out I realized I wasn’t wearing my swimming shorts. I went back and proceeded to change. I heard my parents yelling for me to hurry up. When I came outside my parents were both standing by the boat with their life jackets on They gave me a weird state for taking so much time, but I just brushed it of and got on the boat. “Lets Go…”

In his drem the boy

Has dug a maze through the snow

Complex, magnificent

That his parents want to dig up

At four, to identity the tension of generations

Glow threading thru the woods at night,

Headlights from an auto

Gamuk is kissing Ganuganuga

Resolution protocol:

Song of a dot matrix printer

Casting text

Across the listserv,

            I write

Unitl the first sign of sun

Triggers morning;s hunger,

Voices echo elsewhere in the house

Stool

            In the form of

A sheep black,

Dinosaur constructed from wire and beads

A pennywhistle lies on the rug

Thru the polars

Just enough light

To cast the first silhouette.

The boy

Has dug a maze through the snow

Complex, magnificent

his parents want to dig up

At four,

threading thru the woods at night,

Headlights from an auto

Resolution protocol:

Song of a dot matrix printer

Casting text

Across the listserv,

     I write

Unitl the first sign of sun

Triggers morning’s hunger,

Voices echo in the house

     In the form of

black,

Just enough light

To cast the first silhouette.