read a good poem (or two): "as" and "apostrophe to the apostrophe"

it's picture/poem time again.

i haven't taken a single photo this week--so i went to the old hard drive to see what there is to work with. here's today's:

i've never been sure about this picture, but i liked something about the window setup (at a men's retail clothing store in nolita) immediately as i strolled by. i like the uneven edges of the cross, staked behind the little desert plant, though the crack in the glass adds the real interest.

in searching for a poem, i avoided anything about "a cross" -- not interested in that kind of deep, for here and now. but i looked for poems about signs, symbols.

this one is clever and nice and even if it doesn't work here, i hope you like reading it.

"apostrophe to the apostrophe"

small floater, you stay above the fray,

a wink at nothing's nod, a raised brow

watching p's and q's, a selfless mote

between I and m, a little horn of plenty

spilling plurals, disdaining the bottom line.

unlike your twin relatives—groupies of wit

and wisdom, hangers on in the smallest talk—

you work alone, dark of a crescent moon.

laboring in obscurity, you never ask why,

never exclaim, never tell anyone where to go.

caught up between extremes, you are both

a turning away and a stepping forth,

a loss and an addition. you are the urge

to possess everything, and the sure sign

that something is missing.

--by eric nelson, via the poetry foundation

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this is an excerpt from one i found last night.

had a change of heart about offering this one, in part because i just don't get it. but like these lines.

"as"

...as cathedral gives way to cavern

and cookie cutter gives way to cookie

and the rookies give way to the All-Blacks

and the shad give way to the smoke shed

and the roughshod give way to the Black Horse avern

that still rings true

despite that T being missing from its sign

where a little nook gives way to a little nookie

when I give way to you...

***

(you know he got me with "cookie" and "nookie," right?)

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read the full poem, "as" by new yorker poetry editor, paul muldoon...and if you're like me, you'll be googling finn maccool, i am curious (yellow) and (blue), and all-blacks.

and looking up what a hummock is (a knoll).

if you get it all, please share

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happy friday