Maps and Transcripts of the Ordinary World by Kathryn Cowles (ereader android txt) 📗

an egg. Transliteration. Using the closest corresponding letters or sounds of a completely different alphabet. Shorthand into full sentences. A new arrangement with an entirely other instrument. Transcribed for cello. For piano. For a choir. A bird sound rendered in hyphenated lettering. A mountain. A mountain.

MAP

Two-dimensional circles stand

for three-dimensional hills,

so Profitis Elias (one so called

on every Greek island, the highest point

on which to build a church)

I can tell in advance to be, well,

very tall, but the hewn

marble stairs on the donkey path

are a complete surprise,

also the donkeys themselves

and their riders with Yassas, Yassas,

(one hello for each of us)

also the view looking down from the top.

I take seven photographs turning

in a circle, a panorama,

but how will I place them hanging

on a wall back home? Something already slipping.

And a world-sized map takes a beating

when it’s all spread out,

covers ground but does not match.

And my rugged circles are conceptual, darling.

All they do

is point fingers at loosened hills.

POSTCARD

Dear Brenda, We saw

a lamb on a spit

and took pictures

of it for you,

its bared teeth

and arms tied

and a battery-powered turner,

saw it turn

oh and loved its half-bakedness

for you O Brenda.

And our kitty Artemis

sits on one particular rock

on our rock staircase today,

sits for no reason

and is lovely

and teeming with bugs

though Geoff bathed her in the sink

entirely against her will

though we picked off

two ticks stuck

in her hard

and ugly.

And a ship pulls into the harbor,

pulls in its sails,

wraps them like arms around themselves O

if you could see it.

TRANSCRIPT OF BIRDS

The two birds on the left

sit and the third bird says

[third bird:] ---------

---------

---------

[shakes its wings]

---------

---------

[second bird flies off, back again, off]

---------

---------

[---------is the bird sound]

[second bird:] [makes the bird sound]

[second bird opens its mouth, shakes

its wings:]---------

[bug falls on page]

[dead bug]

[from above]

[tree]

THE MAP KEEPS THINGS PUT

1

Every morning we open the curtains.

Every evening we sit on the porch.

We have a topographical map

that names the highest peak

we see out the window.

Two mountain ranges tell us where we are:

We are between two ranges.

Mapped but minus paper.

2

The sea is such today that I can see

on its surface almost the map’s white

dot dot dot, the border conceptual.

The map keeps things put.

The islands float above it.

I can see four islands from my perch.

I can be on just one.

3

Enter through the magnetic gate.

Requires pushing.

Path lined with stones

upside-down trees

called umbrella pines

on the left.

There is a door here there is

always a door.

THIS DONKEY PATH

The map is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional swath of land. As I have said. A diagrammatic rendering. For use with a compass. For use with stars. A printed version of the live line between the island and the sea. The island is an island in Greece. The live line is a concept taken down on the page. The line on the page resembles the line between island and sea. Corresponding parts. A record. A miniature. A paper representation of the mountain. A plan. When taken, this donkey path is likely to lead to such and such a village. The village is a pin point. With an invisible edge. Follow the arrow. Follow the red line.

Tide

LESSON

1

Akis throws water

balloons at the kittens

from the roof.

This is very funny.

Akis is a young boy.

The kittens are young

and have not learned

their lesson.

2

Akis’s father shows him

the insides of a motorbike.

This part causes this belt to go,

this belt causes this wheel to turn,

this fan, this timer, this button.

A word that means arrow, means order.

This, that then, then this.

LIST

Table salt.

Chickpea soup

served Sundays.

Rhododendron-

like oleander

comes in pink,

comes in

white.

Green-blue water

peaks with foam

shifting, shifting.

Someone tied a goat

with roped feet

to a bush on the rock.

So it is dead.

We can see

through its body

and smell the inside

of its head.

1. salt

2. goat

3. white

4. cat

5. brine

6. red clay bowl

RECIPE

Goat cheese does not taste like goat smell

does not taste like goat

In short we ate a kid

that had a name but was destined

for slaughter its name was I think Bob

maybe not I made

a goat cheese ball for the occasion

-2 cloves garlic, hand-cut—use a paring knife

what you want are tiny squares

-handful kalamata olives—a big handful, pitted,

squares again

-an amount of goat cheese

Use a big bowl mix it w/ your bare hands

shape into a ball

The garlic is strong

give it some bread baked w/ olive oil

to hold onto we all need something

THREE HOURS AT THE BLUE TABLE ON THE TERRACE IN THE SHADE OF THE ROCK WALL

Geoff in the olive tree and

Akis the upstairs boy, a cat called Baseball,

I see cow and whitewashed garage

lines of terrace holding in olives, figs.

A city with a single wall turns

all houses into neighbors, each to each, touching,

bus goes by

quick write bus chair table boy boat sun down,

down, blue slip of sea.

*

Little girl in the red shirt

sings in the whitewashed garage that catches

even the mean black birds in singing.

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

la as in hat

her dad puts her in the back of the

truck still singing.

*

A tree making pomegranates

and one making figs

some citrus

these are tomatoes, those

big purple poofs of onion.

RECIPE

A set of instructions. A list. When taken together, and in this order, and in this way, these things are likely to lead to such and such desired outcome. A loaf of bread. A meat pie. As distinguished from recipient or reciprocity. You give the loaf away to—. You give the loaf and get a meat pie in return. You give the loaf and get a good feeling about. Praise be. A copy of a recipe. Transcribed on a new 3 by 5. For use. Grandma Elizabeth’s chickpeas. Traced back to Grandma Lotta’s chickpeas. Back to an island in Greece. Sifnos revithada. Stoneware pea pots all dropped to the baker’s of a Sunday morning before church. Grandma Appolonia’s chickpeas. Pick the pot up after. Some substitutions must be made. ------ for disaster. A copy of a copy. A poor transcription. In shorthand. A completely different alphabet. The original unclear to begin with.

SEA CHANGE

As birds fall

from great heights right

outside our window, drop down

but fly back up easy

just before hitting the ground,

say mint in a jar

purple picked daisies

that still close at night

still love the sun with their wilt.