PhotoElectric
Kathryn Rantala

Margined sepia hums our transportations.
And if in that in hand,
the fellow in it leans,
he leans.

Or if he leans across
a long, long standing fence,
clearly, brownish over,
as a foolishness disjoined:
perhaps his closed, sweet ohms expand electric.

or if he fathers countries or a shop
or and if resists,
as lindens slow their seed above the walk;
or should his height deny the stalk,
mon pere.
here, the narrow part
by which some larger part attaches.

Loss and reaccession bloom the flattened paddock.
Opa on the pier, the Hafendamm, the quay,
the piattaforma;
oma with a child.
Anything has happened in the pointillated gardens.

Or, if the fence is by itself or leans or blooms
or sleeps,
then also anything can happen.

© 2002 Kathryn Rantala

Kathryn Rantala's work has recently appeared or is upcoming in The Notre Dame Review, Field, 3rd Bed, Raven Chronicles, Crowd, Oregon Review, Best of Melic Review and Spinning Jenny, in addition to online journals such as Eleven Bulls, Drunken Boat, In Posse Review, The American Journal of Print, Painted Bride Quarterly, and others.

Her book Missing Pieces is available from Ocean View Press or via the web: http://www.ravennapress.com.

She resides in Edmonds, Washington.