TOPOGRAPHY

TOPOGRAPHY

13-09-20

[GOING NOWHERE] ’s all here

in the sun —side-door open & radio on

endless Sunday-morning reggae (1965 London

Blue Beat memories —“Little Millie’s nothing”

hustler David teaching me —swore by Prince Buster &

Derek Morgan —got me listening to the brass —but who was

David’s big man? somebody Randolph? Rudolph someone? —

‘ts’all there in first ‘novel’ ’s (lost?) hand-written pages —hah!

(the take-away coffee’s 4 Beans Cafe —250 metres

up road past the Church —same two women of the probably

every day drinking their’s & chatting sat on low church-wall

hidden from lockdown’s spies’ eyes in Walker Street’s

cul-de-sac —coffee’s endless —like James Ellis’s

endless song of endless country road whose

You Tube clip Cathy’s sent me from Laos —

Dunhill-backy chewin’ Camp-kawfee drinkin’ spice

of life in his country voice —(The Lockdown’s

like 30s 40s 50s black & white pics

of headscarfed women chin-wagging in the sun —

Aunt Lydia in Lyons par example —early ‘60s snap —

her host one-armed mosaic-artist whose daughter

came next summer to England providing Aunt Lydia

match-making opportunity —nephew (moi!)

& dark-haired dark-eyed French beauty —

chaste kiss on cheek Aunt admonished me —

the French way (dry) —“nothing dirty” —

Uncle Jim picked us up from our film date—

kept eye on us in the driver’s mirror —

“should’ve seen ‘em!” reported to Aunt Lydia —

Astrid insisted love —pressed kisses on me in the cinema —

called me my middle name ’Alan’ instead of ‘Christopher’ —

(Aunty Lod prepared Greek coffee for herself —the Camp

for Uncle Jim —before Nescafe arrived on the shelf —

long time ago —had his own teeth then

or kept the false set in (mosquitos in

the backyard now —time to go inside —

small dragonfly settles on half house-brick

(having lost the knack of literary construction

or temporarily cancelled it —the higher cadence

or tra-la-la once called it —abandoned for common

speech —thinking aloud = talking —Geraldine’s

exasperation at the style of my contribution

for her British anthology —“as tho just sat down

& wrote it?” (Denis offers ‘fortitude’ in his daily

Chinese calligraphy —i interpolate ‘in lieu

of the rhyme & rhythm of the time of plenty’

yet we all ameliorate —finding on-high’s

elegance via charitable chat (hah! perhaps that’s

what Eshleman meant by ‘gravelly’ as tho as poet

didnt indulge similar familiarity —‘gravelly’ his

editorial castigation ca 1970 of poems i sent him

hoping i’d get into Caterpillar magazine —ah! —

and that’s OK! or now it is!

fifty years down the old track

fifty years if it’s a day!