monera

samuddo / ocean
2014
monera
copyright 2014 by john martone
samuddo / ocean
Tese links to print editions:
isbn 978-1-312-43841-5 (color)
isbn 978-1-312-41892-9 (b/w)
johnmartone@gmail.com
monera
For ninety years
I have heard
Nothing.
Zuiken Inagaki
6
wed trap bees
in glass jars
w/ holes punched
in the lids
a few blades
of grass or
clover heads
everything
was clear then
toward
the end
just so
9
nice
& quiet
inside too
sextant
at sea
microscope
here
10

done
napping
out
to lake
more
algae!
11

cold spring harbor
in a drop of prairie lake water he looks & looks for that whaling village
12

its raining
when he wakes up
this must be
his childhood home
13
a globe
a colony
again
14
while everything else
streams by you watch
a cell divide
these years
trying to grasp
a nanometer
this lake-water
jelly jars my space-
telescope
15
harbor
bay now
distant
synapse

dancing
dnaing
17

their after-images
when you wake up in the morning
18
these transparent bodies
above & below transparent bodies
whos who
19
zhuangzi
just looked up
from his microscope
at a cabbage-white
just fying by
what a mind!
20
when you return to the microscope
everythings dead
its like lascaux
a page for rosmarie waldrop

robert hooke
london another microscope slide

dragonfy
telomeres

silesius
its the baroque all over again
pediastrum
chartres
22
this
microbial
life
maybe
not so bad
23
dont hold so tight
it relaxes
into focus
24
rest of your life
to number the lives
in this water drop
& be wrong

rows of microscopists
each a drop of water
no one looks up
the benthic depths
of all of one
millimeter
25
youve no idea
people call you
monera now
26
after such life
a thread of ink
his fagellum
27
you dream
all morning
youre a water drop
28
contractile
vacuole
sighs
you watch
the cytoplasm stream
its happening inside you
paramecium
too old to leave
a fossil trace
29
knotting a bowline
naturally
amoeba
30
blue-green algae
the great sun
fower
31
that rooming house room
bed & pillow & window
see-thru
in your mind
on those waters
& you dont know
the diference
33
an 18
th
century split-shingled rooming house painted blue
sixteen or so windows facing the street
one is yours
34
night after night you dream of a cave city close by, like cormans matera or canyon de
chelly or datdawtaung, a place of repose, quietly inhabited, welcoming. And you wake
up thinking its just one more rooming house reverie, till you look around at your dresser
and table and little shrine box and see how cabinets are caves and drawers are caves
holding forgotten childhood things in boxes and shells that are caves all the way back to
prehistory and even lifes frst architecture. Ten you see those gold pavilions foating in
the cheap print taima mandala on the wall beside you, the thousand buddhas, each one
the same like all the monera, and no one at all. Its time to get up.
35
you grab hold of the toerail a new word
36
a sailboat
when he cant even
take care of his body
37




o
n
l
y

t
h
e

j
i
b





s
t
i
l
l

h
e

s
a
i
l
s





o
u
t

o
f

h
i
m
s
e
l
f

38
un
tethered
drifting
out
at last
become
that
micro
scope
astro
naut
39
so many
sailing
terms
desmid
species
40
think youre
nobody now
just wait
41
as is
sailboat doesnt
have an anchor
42
tiller
feels
well
used
43




n
o
t

o
b
v
i
o
u
s





y
o
u

p
u
s
h

t
h
e

c
a
b
i
n

h
a
t
c
h




f
o
r
w
a
r
d

t
o

e
n
t
e
r














just the sight
of that full sailbag
knocks him down
44
the head
is self
contained
45
sailboat cabin
compact as
his dream
46
pull left to go right
sailboat tiller
microscope slide
47
chabana
cant sail?
try arranging
a single fower
48
when it rained
wed wait in his car
at that corner
for the school bus
all youd ever want
its raining
& youre late
its raining
there arent enough
microscope slides
49
one vermeer
after another
this water
50
mothers
blue slipper
all the way
thru that storm
51
52
light surrounds
the smallest
life
53
if theres no more to the mind
than one blue-green cell
its perfect
54
all your life
an unseen world
55
blue-green
algae
made you
56
minus everything
its all
endless
57
microscope
on kitchen table
how old are you
58
blue-green algae
the spiritual life
59
6 syllables
spinnaker
spinnaker
60
thought
turns to
cyto
plasmic
streaming
turns to
thought
61
hurricanes
& sycamores
those roots!
62
dinghy
same word that buddha knew
63
room to room
bringing her silence
that lantern globe
64
itll be
another place
youll never
get back to
65
a dinghy sailboat too much for you alone
66
sinews
riggings
turnscrews
67

repeat the terms till your body turns to standing-rigging
68
before
& after
its always
raining
69
its a water drop full of empty bottles
70
late summer
youre just like
everything else
71
try not
to scare
yourself
its just
that it
feels like
rain this
sunday
after
noon &
one by
one theyre
leaving
72
neglecting his garden
theres that microscope
theres that sailboat
73
the depth changes
he goes out
of his mind
74
out-dated guides
to tall ships
& protozoans
75
look up
the nautical term
for heartbreak
76
he sits
on his bed
& is lost
at sea
77
its all
the life
you could
ask for
78
hardly remember
that hurricane
the lights gone out
79
any day now
that dinghy sailboats
blueprints
80
eyeglasses in shirt pocket
walks down to the harbor
already at sea
81
lucky
to have seen
those sailboats
82
late summer rain
everything
multiplies
83
h
a
v
i
n
g

n
o


p
e
r
s
o
n
a
l

l
i
f
e

b
l
u
e
-
g
r
e
e
n

a
l
g
a
e
84
those peach trees
his sisters were
playing jacks
85
spots of time
all those
nuclei
86
his fnal years
back to high school
biology
87
blue-green algae
before him
& after
88
how to ft
paper bag
book covers
89
little suit
time to let go
mothers hand
90
blue green algae
youre not drowning
youre breathing
91
whatever that cell
takes in becomes
translucent
92
bobbing
in
a life
raft
dream
a days
work
getting
dressed
thoreau
same clothes
today
93
the threshold
of eyesight
you dont
belong
94
a clump
of algae
a stained glass window
after
all that
youve got
her eyes
96
eye
outside in
a hurricanes
97
having looked & looked
you fnally
listen