two by Laura Moriarty - "the tale is told but doesn't solve itself"

THE MISSILE


The protected zone
Like a diagram of a pine cone
Removed from life
Lightning
Seems alive

The quiet voice
The trees of an imaginary paradise
Dropping down

Or not fallen
Like people who are innocent
To the ground

To the air or back down
What lasts is what we have

What we have done

~

THE CATASTROPHIST


There is no electricity to run the machines in the hospital

Or to heat or cook

She begins to think of tropical storms

Redfield cyclones can be seen on the wall

She breathes an infinitely small mass of air

The map is in motion

What can be done about the weather or lack of it?

What can the machines tell us?

from Symmetry (Avec Books, 1996) by Laura Moriarty


~

I first read & loved this book in 1999, long removed at that point from the first Gulf War during which many of these poems seem to have been written. Others would have (& still do) recommend themselves, but given the current Situation, these two jumped out. Archivist at SF State's Poetry Center for many years, Moriarty currently works at Small Press Distribution in Berkeley, CA and can be found at the group blog, A Tonalist.


"The tale is told but doesn't solve itself." (from "Night 2")