Dedicated

near the end

of Hoover’s presidency

that failed engineer

 

after the crash

but still very

much of the

 

Depression they dedicated

this Rose Garden

in rural San

 

Jose     my father

was five years

old     my grandfather

 

Chaim owned a

small grocery store

on the east

 

side   & he

was about to

go bankrupt again
 

 

Serving

there must be

one that is

beautiful a day

 

a person a

face a particular

set of words

 

a serving of

pureed purple sweet

potatoes or a

 

bed of greens

particular to this

locale glance from

 

a green turtle

in ahihi bay

taking a sip

 

of air so

close to us

was that it


 

FIGURE  (3 x 18 x 2  for LZ)

so the syllogism

from one sound

others to hear

 

clearly to tell

one from another

to tell that

 

one is like

another that the

torsion or the

 

tearing of the

gears that the

thinking or the

 

thinking singing that

the fugue is

a figure go

 

figure in the

poem to figure

it out caring

 

*

zero carry the

one a funny

way to say

 

ten in her

care in his

an ear a

 

music made manifest

vhen de rebbe

singt   throw in

 

the kitchen sink

paul will play

it he can

 

hear it thoughts’

torsion as cousin

george saw it

 

miracle that there

is something anything

to stand upon

 

Home

with bleakness odd

gray today’s day

light home more

 

& other than

mere fact of

young girls in

 

the guest room

the noise machine

the night lights

 

brother-in-law sleeping in

the cancer ward

old dog rests

 

on pee-stained blankets

blueberries ripening humid

early morning air

 

cardinals crack sun

flower seeds sprinklers

mist existing green

 

Breath

—for Norman Fischer

red shirt bright

flash of color

against fog sky

 

one breath one

breath at a

time gratitude &

 

attention determined wild

salmon head up

rush homeward against

 

silver cascading static

of every other

thought for a

 

moment one breath –

let loose     it

runs on anyway

 

your river of

words –   one breath

beginning to end


Ekleksographia #1

January  2009

Poems

Hank Lazer

Hank Lazer has published 14 books of poetry, including The New Spirit (Singing Horse, 2005), Elegies & Vacations (Salt, 2004), and Days (Lavender Ink, 2002).  Lyric & Spirit: Selected Essays 1996–2008 appeared in 2008 from Omnidawn.  The poems in Ekleksographia are from Lazer's forthcoming collection of poems, Portions, which will be published by Lavender Ink this spring

In addition to his poetry, Lazer is a noted critic of modern and contemporary poetry. In 1996, Northwestern University Press published Opposing Poetries, a two volume collection (Volume 1: Issues and Institutions and Volume 2: Readings) of Lazer’s essays on contemporary poetry. For over a decade, his essays on innovative poetry, new modes of lyricism, and representations of spiritual experience have appeared in a variety of journals, including Facture, The Boston Review, Jacket, American Poetry Review and Talisman.

In 1997, Hank Lazer and Charles Bernstein (co-editors) began the Modern and Contemporary Poetics series for the University of Alabama Press. To date, they have published thirty-two books in the series.