off the shoulder
the stars
i like more
than the rest:
the ones you
catch sight of
down a right-of-way
of the night,
just above
a road cresting
the hill,
tampering with
the shadowed
edge of trees,
the stars
come down
above a fence,
a skyline, in
reach
putting the
lie across
they’re close
close as a
dream in
the waking.
nelson st, howick
june 2, 4, 2013
Copyright ©2020 Peter Le Baige
The music is from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s performance of his composition ‘Blu’ with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Kydathinaion Street.*
Οδός Κυδαθηναίων
a jumble
of sun
flipped beneath
the tables
on the tablecloth
you dab
flakes of crust
sunlight gashed
marble in a
glass of
water.
as though we
had all stepped under
– perhaps the roaring
train, dragged
in the banner’s gale
of steel,
banner of those who’ve
taken that harsh shore
by force –
as though we
had all stepped under,
the muslin gaps
of shade racks
of card sky
enamelled by wind
betray an instinct
of surprise,
so the dead, a
gust of confetti,
grains of sugar you crack
on the tablecloth.
april 1985
*One of the streets in the Plaka district of Athens. Wikipedia describes the Plaka as:‘Pláka (Greek: Πλάκα) is the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture’
I believe that in a few minutes of sunlight on this street, as a young man, I came upon my very own person for the first time.
Copyright ©1986 Peter Le Baige. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced from my own publication ‘street hung with daylit moon’, Chamaeleon Press
The music is from the solo violin work “Gyftiko” (Gypsy) by John Psathas, performed here by Rusanda Panfili at the Evmelia International Music Festival in Volos, Greece on April 2nd 2012. I chose this piece in part because on my first night in Athens on Kydathinaion Street an elderly violinist in a well-worn suit played for us a traditional lament that this recording recalls for me.
burst
obvious,
yet i swear
that the late sun
green through the
leaves of the vine
staked along
the ridge
was the
glow of crushed
grape
lifted up
to our lips
and
drunk
down to
the dusks
of evening
3 october 2020
whitford
Copyright ©2020 Peter Le Baige. All Rights Reserved
The music is from the cantabile of the bassoon sonata TWV 41:e5 by G.P. Telemann.
Ruru ki Te Ruru 