monera
DESCRIPTION
Short poems and photomicrographs concerning the smallest kingdom(s) and the inner ocean. A sequence from the poet's samuddo/ocean project.TRANSCRIPT
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monera
samuddo / ocean2014
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moneracopyright 2014 by john martone
samuddo / ocean These links to print editions:
isbn 978-1-312-43841-5 (color)isbn 978-1-312-41892-9 (b/w)
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monera
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For ninety years I have heard
Nothing.
Zuiken Inagaki
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6wed trap bees in glass jars
w/ holes punched in the lids
a few blades of grass or clover heads
everything was clear then
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toward the end just so
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9nice & quiet inside too
sextant at seamicroscope here
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10
done napping
out to lake
more algae!
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11
cold spring harbor in a drop of prairie lake water he looks & looks for that whaling village
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12
its raining when he wakes up
this must be his childhood home
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13
a globe a colony again
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14
while everything else streams by you watcha cell divide
these yearstrying to grasp a nanometer
this lake-waterjelly jars my space-telescope
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15
harbor bay now
distant synapse
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dancing dnaing
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17
their after-images when you wake up in the morning
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18
these transparent bodies above & below transparent bodies whos who
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19
zhuangzi just looked up from his microscope
at a cabbage-white just flying by
what a mind!
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20
when you return to the microscope everythings dead its like lascaux
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a page for rosmarie waldrop
robert hooke london another microscope slide
dragonfly telomeres
silesius its the baroque all over again
pediastrum chartres
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22
this microbial life
maybe not so bad
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23
dont hold so tightit relaxesinto focus
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24
rest of your life to number the lives
in this water drop & be wrong
rows of microscopists each a drop of water no one looks up
the benthic depthsof all of one millimeter
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25
youve no ideapeople call you monera now
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26
after such lifea thread of ink his flagellum
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27
you dream all morning youre a water drop
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28
contractile vacuolesighs
you watchthe cytoplasm stream its happening inside you
paramecium too old to leavea fossil trace
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29
knotting a bowline naturally amoeba
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30
blue-green algaethe great sunflower
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31
that rooming house room bed & pillow & windowsee-thru
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in your mind on those waters
& you dont know the difference
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33
an 18th century split-shingled rooming house painted blue sixteen or so windows facing the streetone is yours
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34
night after night you dream of a cave city close by, like cormans matera or canyon de chelly or datdawtaung, a place of repose, quietly inhabited, welcoming. And you wake up thinking its just one more rooming house reverie, till you look around at your dresser and table and little shrine box and see how cabinets are caves and drawers are caves holding forgotten childhood things in boxes and shells that are caves all the way back to prehistory and even lifes first architecture. Then you see those gold pavilions floating in the cheap print taima mandala on the wall beside you, the thousand buddhas, each one the same like all the monera, and no one at all. Its time to get up.
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35
you grab hold of the toerail a new word
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36
a sailboat when he cant even take care of his body
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37
only the jib still he sails
out of himself
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38
un tethered
drifting out at last
become that micro
scope astro naut
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39
so many sailing terms
desmid species
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40
think youre nobody now just wait
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41
as is sailboat doesnt have an anchor
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42
tiller feels well used
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43
not o
bvious
you p
ush the
cabin h
atch
forwa
rd to en
ter
just the sight of that full sailbag knocks him down
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44
the head is self contained
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45
sailboat cabin compact as his dream
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pull left to go right sailboat tiller microscope slide
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47
chabana
cant sail? try arranging a single flower
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48
when it rained wed wait in his car
at that corner for the school bus
all youd ever want its raining & youre late
its raining there arent enough microscope slides
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49
one vermeer after another this water
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50
mothers blue slipper
all the waythru that storm
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51
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52
light surrounds the smallest life
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53
if theres no more to the mind than one blue-green cell its perfect
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54
all your life an unseen world
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55
blue-green algaemade you
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56
minus everythingits all endless
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57
microscope on kitchen table how old are you
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58
blue-green algaethe spiritual life
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59
6 syllables spinnakerspinnaker
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60
thoughtturns to
cytoplasmicstreaming
turns to thought
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61
hurricanes& sycamores those roots!
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62
dinghy same word that buddha knew
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63
room to room bringing her silence that lantern globe
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64
itll be another place
youll never get back to
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65
a dinghy sailboat too much for you alone
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66
sinews riggings turnscrews
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67
repeat the terms till your body turns to standing-rigging
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68
before & after
its always raining
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69
its a water drop full of empty bottles
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70
late summer youre just like everything else
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71
try not to scare yourself its just
that it feels like rain this
sunday after noon &
one by one theyre leaving
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72
neglecting his garden theres that microscope theres that sailboat
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the depth changeshe goes out of his mind
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74
out-dated guidesto tall ships & protozoans
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75
look up the nautical term for heartbreak
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76
he sits on his bed
& is lost at sea
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77
its all the life
you could ask for
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78
hardly remember that hurricane the lights gone out
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79
any day now that dinghy sailboats blueprints
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80
eyeglasses in shirt pocket walks down to the harbor already at sea
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81
lucky to have seen those sailboats
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82
late summer rain everything multiplies
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83
havi
ng n
o
pers
onal
life
bl
ue-g
reen
alg
ae
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84
those peach trees his sisters were playing jacks
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85
spots of time all those nuclei
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86
his final years back to high school biology
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87
blue-green algaebefore him & after
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how to fit paper bag book covers
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89
little suit time to let go mothers hand
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90
blue green algae youre not drowningyoure breathing
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91
whatever that cell takes in becomestranslucent
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92
bobbing in
a life raft
dream
a dayswork
getting dressed
thoreausame clothestoday
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93
the threshold of eyesight
you dont belong
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94
a clump of algae a stained glass window
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afterall that
youve gother eyes
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96
eye
outside in
a hurricanes
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97
having looked & looked you finally listen