This poem about Point Defiance Park was read by its author recently (June 26th) on KXOT radio . It's written by Bill Kupinse, laureate of Tacoma. It's nice to see others enjoy this gift we have as our back yard...
POINT DEFIANCE
When I visit her, I find
a sea widow scanning the bay,
hair of braided epiphytes
askew, the blast of wind
across the bay
her keening.
Footpaths cross her heart:
ligatures suture
rags of tissue, strain
against arrhythmia.
In her secret embrasure
anomalous snow convenes,
fistfuls of confetti, forgotten
or illswept. Here
breathing calms.
A tree stump older
than the steam engine
strikes, for a second, sunlight
in its mossy hollow. Where rot
succeeds to loam, a splintered branch
of windfall jabs.
Flagless pole, it quivers,
marking a coordinate
which now mostly bores.
ASARCO’s airborne plume
casts a century’s tumorous shadow
—copper cadmium arsenic—
from Ruston’s clavicle to Vashon’s chin.
More than we, the Greeks understood
a poison that might linger,
but here no Machaon will salve
Philoktetes’ festering wound.
Orcas passing through the bay,
half your heroes gone,
circle widely, when the seas
diminish, emulate
the octopus, whose
arms grasp the Narrows bridge:
seek out the secret places.
Leaning back, I descend
a driftwood colossus,
wavetorn taproots flailing —
how long they served, how hard
to relinquish one’s defense.
The tang of ocean drops
frozen from the air.
On sand, I turn and see the giant,
angled toward the sea, now
unremarkable; dozens
so fashioned test water. And I
cannot decide if they are winter sunbathers
or skiffs readying themselves for the sea.
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1 comment:
First off...Thank you Karen for sharing your discovery of this talented person,Bill Kupinse.
Bill,
Thank you for expressing your love for our obviously shared paradise!
Your poem put adult words to my adolesent memories of growing up in this NW paradise.
Having grown to maturity in what was, in my mind "my personal paradise",I thank you for passing the torch to those that are new to our "neighborhood". Our urban forests and seaside beauty are so very precious.
As a native resident,having seen many(!)so called revitalizations in Tacoma;I "believe" we are close to the right path to meld the beauty of our surroundings with our need to create well thought out communities that can support our residents. We just need to open that dialoge.....& be respectful of differing opinions.
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