by Rochelle Owens
At dawn the tree cutter
under an occult sky
of greens and yellows
climbing higher and higher
considers the trades
of butchers dyers sailors
considers the calling
of artists dancers musicians
the tree cutter hearing the blues
the blues of B. B. King
climbing higher and higher
into wilderness
a nomad and a wanderer
a wanderer in a strange land
seeing organic forms forms
of stems roots a donkey’s tail
the faces of mummies
the curves of hardened sap
cutting into bark
the tree cutter seeing mobiles
geometric shapes houses
of the Cyclades the Bauhaus
changing shifting circles
a frenzy of wood chips a spastic dance
a spastic dance of wood chips
witnessed by grackles
the tree cutter hearing
staccato notes lopping off twigs
cutting away diseased parts
raised bumps bulbous deformity
into a vertical wilderness
climbing higher and higher
cutting cutting cutting
working working the tree cutter
contemplating Particle Theory
resting in the crotch of the tree
in the tree cutter’s brain
the flow of hormonal forces
in the trunk of the tree
a flow of moisture and nutrients
an unearthly glow
like the effects of the moon
sitting cross-legged
in the crotch of the tree
meditating on the cutting
the selected branches
musing on the languid tendrils
of pubic hair
sorcery of his female brain
climbing higher and higher
a wilderness of curving rhythmic
forms twisting reptilian
rotting snakelike branches
chopping away the branches
emerald the leaves whirling
whirling above
redundant the leafless branches
useless the branches
the tree cutter hearing
a Bach Cantata
contemplating Particle Theory
a flush of wet hot air
burning his neck and face
the flow of hormonal forces
feeling a twisting a binding
a corset of pain binding
the pain a passage
glorious the pain binding
Rochelle Owens, a frequent contributor to The New Verse News, is the author of twenty books of poetry, plays, and fiction, the most recent of which are Solitary Workwoman, (Junction Press, 2011), Journey to Purity (Texture Press, 2009), and Plays by Rochelle Owens (Broadway Play Publishing, 2000). A pioneer in the experimental off-Broadway theatre movement and an internationally known innovative poet, she has received Village Voice Obie awards and honors from the New York Drama Critics Circle. Her plays have been presented worldwide and in festivals in Edinburgh, Avignon, Paris, and Berlin. Her play Futz, which is considered a classic of the American avant-garde theatre, was produced by Ellen Stewart at LaMama, directed by Tom O’Horgan and performed by the LaMama Troupe in 1967, and was made into a film in 1969. A French language production of Three Front was produced by France-Culture and broadcast on Radio France. She has been a participant in the Festival Franco-Anglais de Poésie, and has translated Liliane Atlan’s novel Les passants, The Passersby (Henry Holt, 1989). She has held fellowships from the NEA, Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and numerous other foundations. She has taught at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Oklahoma and held residencies at Brown and Southwestern Louisiana State.
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