Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Greetings from LA


Brother and Sister

Hey Les

- just boiling here in L.A. all summer -- and it's still cooking. Thought I'd drop a couple more photos and some poems. My sister, Deb (Class of '74, married to Jack Beaulne , class of '72) was here visiting early July, so I've included a recent photo of myself with her. I've also included another two, one from the '70s in Africa , the other another time, another place. I sent a few poems, so I'll let you choose (if you so choose). Hope your summer was all that you hoped for. Take care.
All good things always,
Rick

Antithesis

Naiad emerges from river,

a gift of water in her wake;

wet clings to her bosom

while mayflies spirit the dawn,

their delicate transparent wings pursued

by two, perhaps three, long filaments

that shimmer morning.

From her lips, to sex the air with song,

a sweet purl flows and the forest listens,

I listen. Fluent in river talk, her rhetoric

as mellifluous as the waterfall she sings to.

Her presence is a lack of time,

never near,

never far. I hear

her cry for help and succumb, let her

mislead me through woods, past lakes

and fairy rings. I am obediently

lured by tears.

From my matrix of illusion

and forgetfulness, I tumble dream

shapes, trouble the truth

where I sleep with eyes open

in the house of Somnus, and the river

I hear is the gentle flow of Lethe nearby

where poppies bloom with other

drowsy herbs. Here, no cock crows

and twilight wraps all things in shadow—

river, me, a kiss from Naiad that almost

breaks into light.

Rick Kilpatrick

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