torn

torn

Shaped like stars in flux… a Weathercat snap

the leaves
of the maple
that lathered
in sap and
cool of
evening
star
light
in weight
shaped like
stars in
flux
torn
and fallen
here in
wet day
into grass
the snuffed
torches
of
autumn

morning, 2 june 2014

Copyright © 2021 Peter Le Baige. All Rights Reserved

The snippet of piano is from the opening movement of Bedřich Smetana’s Piano Sonata in G minor (1846) in a recording here by pianist Jitka Čechová.

the other

the other
‘Je est un autre’, Arthur Rimbaud

the clock, the well, the water-wish, the other we are & far from

rolled onto my side
looking for the clock face
in the dark almost dawn
where everything dances
in the hold of its shape

knew someone there
sleeping as me in
my limbs my waking
in the static of the
dark tuning in on
the light

that other who
takes on all my
posture of dreaming,
of bone propped
along the paths

reference

reference

‘Tramping’ before the wind… a Weathercat windy snap

the last of
afternoon coming
down on the
day
the rigging
of moored boats
minor pleasure
craft
shrill with wind
on the other side
of the estuary low
low cloud running
before the storm
‘tramping’* they say
of sailing boats,
said of, in my
day at least

and anyway
my life now mostly
footnotes to myself
written for one
clear reference back
to the inexplicable

november 2015
bucklands beach, tamaki estuary

*‘tramping’: such was the term my dad taught me. I could only find one reference online to this usage, which was as follows:
‘On a reach she is capable of averaging 6.5-7.5 knots in all but the choppiest waters. She does lack downwind performance, so needs a big fat spinnaker to really get her tramping along.’
http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/yacht-reviews/our-verdict-on-the-moody-36-31155

Copyright © 2021 Peter Le Baige. All Rights Reserved

The music is from a Youtube performance by Chris Thile of Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, BWV 1001 on mandolin.