Here\u2019s one with a local touch, written by our own Bill Kupinse, Puget Sound Associate Professor of English and 2008-09 Tacoma Poet Laureate. Submitted by Elizabeth Knight<\/p>\n
POINT DEFIANCE<\/p>\n
When I visit her, I find
\na sea widow scanning the bay,
\nhair of braided epiphytes
\naskew, the blast of wind
\nacross the bay
\nher keening.<\/p>\n
Footpaths cross her heart:
\nligatures suture
\nrags of tissue, strain
\nagainst arrhythmia.<\/p>\n
In her secret embrasure
\nanomalous snow convenes,
\nfistfuls of confetti, forgotten
\nor illswept.\u00a0 Here
\nbreathing calms.<\/p>\n
A tree stump older
\nthan the steam engine
\nstrikes, for a second, sunlight
\nin its mossy hollow.\u00a0 Where rot
\nsucceeds to loam, a splintered branch
\nof windfall jabs.
\nFlagless pole, it quivers,
\nmarking a coordinate
\nwhich now mostly bores.<\/p>\n
ASARCO\u2019s airborne plume
\ncasts a century\u2019s tumorous shadow
\n\u2014copper cadmium arsenic\u2014
\nfrom Ruston\u2019s clavicle to Vashon\u2019s chin.
\nMore than we, the Greeks understood
\na poison that might linger,
\nbut here no Machaon will salve
\nPhiloktetes\u2019 festering wound.<\/p>\n
Orcas passing through the bay,
\nhalf your heroes gone,
\ncircle widely, when the seas
\ndiminish, emulate
\nthe octopus, whose
\narms grasp the Narrows bridge:
\nseek out the secret places.<\/p>\n
Leaning back, I descend
\na driftwood colossus,
\nwavetorn taproots flailing \u2014
\nhow long they served, how hard
\nto relinquish one\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n
The tang of ocean drops
\nfrozen from the air.<\/p>\n
On sand, I turn and see the giant,
\nangled toward the sea, now
\nunremarkable; dozens
\nso fashioned test water. And I<\/p>\n
cannot decide if they are winter sunbathers
\nor skiffs readying themselves for the sea.<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2006 by William Kupinse Here\u2019s one with a local touch, written by our own Bill Kupinse, Puget Sound Associate Professor of English and 2008-09 Tacoma Poet Laureate. Submitted by Elizabeth Knight POINT DEFIANCE When I visit her, I find a sea widow scanning the … Continue reading
\nFrom: http:\/\/www2.ups.edu\/faculty\/wkupinse\/Poems.htm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"