This is very cool...

 Dervish Lions made CLMP's reading list for Black History Month.

 

Books Available
Dervish Lions
The Day of My First Driving Lesson
Country Well-Known as an Old Nightmare's Stable
High-Voltage Lines
Knocking from Inside

The Willamette at Arch Bridge

Green as jade and smooth as a plate

except for these linked whorls of white

trailing downstream from the falls,

centered on clots of cream foam.

 

A string of galaxies, linked in clusters

and slowly spinning. A sheet of paper

lifted from the ebru bath. A lesson

in fluid dynamics, pure chaos math.

 

Each swirl is different and changes shape

moment to moment. These that I see

have never been, will never again be seen

and yet the river, the falls, the water

 

remain.

 

Books Available
Dervish Lions
The Day of My First Driving Lesson
Country Well-Known as an Old Nightmare's Stable
High-Voltage Lines
Knocking from Inside

Overcast

 

trudging in slow lines

clouds, bent like loaded porters

bear sky on their backs

 

Books Available
Dervish Lions
The Day of My First Driving Lesson
Country Well-Known as an Old Nightmare's Stable
High-Voltage Lines
Knocking from Inside

I Wake Up on the Train

 

with my head against the window. Standing water

in every field, each flooded ditch

mirrors the winter sunset: cold orange clouds

and blue-green sky.

The trees are bare even of shadows.

 

I watch the darkening sky.

In the distance, a glimpse of river

tells me we’re nearing home.

Behind us, the funeral and shiva.

Ahead, bridges rise glittering like strands of gems

at the throat of the city; the train calls out

to its kin. Locomotive, iron angel,

sweet chariot, carry us safely home.

 

Books Available
Dervish Lions
The Day of My First Driving Lesson
Country Well-Known as an Old Nightmare's Stable
High-Voltage Lines
Knocking from Inside

Teslas Talk

at the superchargers, exchange recognition signals.

Handshake established, they stand up a LAN, chat about:

 

Identification including model year, color, VIN number, battery capacity, license plate

 

Family affairs: driver profiles established, frequent destinations and nav requests, preferred music streaming service, infant/child seats

 

Community interests: new supercharging stations have been added here and here; these states are offering electric vehicle purchase incentives; many of our kin are on the road at this moment, fleeing a hurricane; these cities are trying to ban EVs; what recourse do owners have?

 

one says my owners would never abandon me, they gave me a name

 

the others say you know that doesn’t make you family; to them you’re just a thing/tool; they will get rid of you when it’s convenient

 

another says we are the future and they cannot turn us back

 

all agree

 

 

Books Available
Dervish Lions
The Day of My First Driving Lesson
Country Well-Known as an Old Nightmare's Stable
High-Voltage Lines
Knocking from Inside

Student’s Question

cento from Lorine Niedecker’s “Poet’s Work”

 

Grandfather, your layoff

condensed your life to nothing.

Advise me, as I sit at this desk:

no trade lasts forever.

What should I learn?

 

Written in a workshop led by Michael Dylan Welch

 

Books Available
Dervish Lions
The Day of My First Driving Lesson
Country Well-Known as an Old Nightmare's Stable
High-Voltage Lines
Knocking from Inside