BITS AND PIECES IV



I used to to fancy myself an alien here:
secretly dangerous somehow. I had to confess
i'd been naturalized like most other women
who had little free time on their hands.
I meditated along well-stocked aisles of the supermarket.
I found peace in well-decorated rooms.
I found something like joy driving my BMW.
Anyway, by now i've touched everythng
my housemates eat and wear:
My scent rarely scares them anymore.
They permit me to roam freely
and trade but little for time to do as I will.


AJA 

SYNC

 

un cailloux jeté dans l’étang
ou le battement d’ailes du papillon
secoue le nœud de nature entier
car tout est lié
tu ne le trouves pas
toi aussi?



Nous adorons et
nous détestons nos compagnons
nous sommes plus bien informés qu’eux
finalement eux, nous sommes !
faut leur demander pardon ;
mes chers, un atome ne nous sépare point!
tu ne le trouves pas
toi aussi?

Si Dieu voit que le monde est bon
il nous applaudit avec les plumes,
sourit comme l’homme dans la lune :
il garde le secret de son silence
notre cliquetis est en vain- quel émoi !
il ne nous reste que nos choix
tu ne le trouves pas,
toi aussi ?
___
A pebble thrown in a pond
Or the beating of the butterfly's wings
Bestirs the whole of nature's web
As all of nature is bound together
Haven't you found it so?
Haven't you?

We love and
We hate our fellow travelers
We are much smarter than they are
But in the end we are they!
We must ask them to forgive us
Dear friends, hardly an atom separates us!
Haven't you found it so?
Haven't you?

If God sees that the world is good
He applauds us with feathers,
Laughs like the man in the moon:
He keeps his secret in silence- what a surprise!
Our choices are all that remain
Haven't you found it so?
Haven't you?

--Ann Ahnemann

HIGH SCHOOL

Before the Shortline
takes them to the front
my hero parents cry,
Bye! Have a good day!
and send me forth
to congregate by the football field
to smoke and shoot the breeze
and make out somehow.
Here, childhood dies umourned.
Gather the necessary 'what';
'why' is not on the test.
I have my symbols:
Gay, Straight, Guess, Grateful Dead.
I attend disappointing seances
on the leather of dad's Mercedes,
go on AmEX pilrimages to Europe.
Even at the Salisbury Plain
when the solstice pours over the dolmens
there is no escape.
I was born to fall in step,
singing.

--Ann Ahnemann









Before the Shortline
takes them to the front
my hero parents cry,
Bye! Have a good day!
and send me forth
to congregate by the football field
to smoke and shoot the breeze
and make out somehow.
Here, childhood dies umourned.
Gather the necessary 'what';
'why' is not on the test.
I have my symbols:
Gay, Straight, Guess, Grateful Dead.
I attend disappointing seances
on the leather of dad's Mercedes,
go on AmEX pilrimages to Europe.
Even at the Salisbury Plain
when the solstice pours over the dolmens
there is no escape.
I was born to fall in step,
singing.

--Ann Ahnemann