Brave Passage Through a Literary Landscape

The contemporary Columbus
explores the geography of words
sailing in black Nunn Bush shoes

down narrow gray carpeted valleys
of climate controlled provinces

(between Whitman, Poe, and Plath)

navigating an ever changing
literary landscape of marvels;
these Matterhorns and Everests rising

on either side stretching high
off into the hazy distant horizon

(past King, Koontz, and Barker)

piles of patterned pulp with printed pages
rising in a maintained geometric topography
beckoning like the haunting sirens

calling seductively to this sailor sailing
their vibrant gaudy colors like fall leaves

(here Beatles, Steamships, and Cats)

like tropical flowers all attractive to the eye
emblazoned with lines, shapes, and colors
defining boldly what they promise inside

each niche, cave , and cranny filled
with a myriad of thought provoking images

(pages of Giger, Klimt, and Van Gogh)

and themes for hungry probing minds
to either drift above or search below
praying for a deeply stimulating harbor

the fresh smell of paper and printers ink
floats in heady fragrance on a passing breeze

(where Freud, Camus, and Capote await)


I anchor beneath a fluttering graphic banner
proclaiming poetry in royal blue and gold
and scan the familiar faces in the crowd

noting the alphabetical arrangements
enforced by certain popular decree

(finding cummings, Bronte, and Dickinson)

the gathered poets smile and vigorously wave
for a discoverer has come to set them free
to invade this country of cliffs and ledges

to carry them forth into larger worlds
to converse with this inquisitive soul

(leading Kerouac, Sandburg, and Williams)

once the invited have been brought aboard
offered green tea, cannabis, or chocolate sweet
sail is set and the voyage is resumed

and the wind is strong and at our backs
as we sail into the light of the outside world

(smiling Ginsburg, Di Palma, and Parker)

Columbus satisfied with his new discoveries
retires to indulge the wisdom of new friends
vowing that in not too distant a time

again he’ll ply the aisles in endless quest of truth
in brave passage through a literary landscape

R. C. Arquette
1/19/03