{"id":3783,"date":"2018-09-16T15:48:01","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T22:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/?p=3783"},"modified":"2018-09-19T06:14:01","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T13:14:01","slug":"paleo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/paleo\/","title":{"rendered":"Paleo"},"content":{"rendered":"

A red-tail hawk lifts off
\n<\/span>with a red mouth of meat
\n<\/span>above the tarnished green
\n<\/span>dome of the Old Observatory,
\nmothballed after light pollution
\n<\/span>washed out its view into
\n<\/span>a cosmos whose creatures
\neat not meat but protein.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I lived eight years in my thirties in Berkeley and environs, a poetically productive period of my life. I was working as a wine merchant and had given up on academic expectations, those that I had myself but also those others had of me. \u00a0The main bonds upon me were those of epicurean oenophile commerce.\u00a0Poetry therefore came more easily.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Now I have lived almost another ten productive years in Southern California, my personal moment of waning twilight on hills where chaparral used to reign.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Despite this, few of my poems bear any trace of the Californian landscape.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Here is one, which speaks to the systematic human invasion of these dry uplands, overcast many mornings of the year with the low clouds of the Catalina eddy marine layer. \u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Rare, the shrill coyote bark\u2019s become
\nas our presence intrudes on theirs.
\nNights we suffer from our own noise,
\nleft in peace with the howl of our cares.<\/p>\n

(Wail<\/a>)<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Here are a few others:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Thoroughfares<\/a>
\nOrthodox Cemetery at Fort Ross<\/a>
\nThe Horticulturist<\/a>
\nChaparral Sunset<\/a>
\nGiraffes at San Gorgonio<\/a><\/p>\n

Not to mention my recent verse in Mandarin. first line of a poem which I hope to finish before I pass.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u767d\u9e6d\u5728 \u8def\u8fb9<\/a>
\nb\u00e1i l\u00f9 z\u00e0i l\u00f9 bi\u0101n
\nAn egret lit on the roadside.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

A night view of the eponymous Old Observatory. It has been replaced with University housing.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A red-tail hawk lifts off with a red mouth of meat above the tarnished green dome of the Old Observatory, mothballed after light pollution washed out its view into a cosmos whose creatures eat not meat but protein. *** I lived eight years in my thirties in Berkeley and environs, a poetically productive period of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Paleo”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[40,22,78],"class_list":["post-3783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-oc","tag-death","tag-mandarin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3783"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3807,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783\/revisions\/3807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}