In Topographies of Light, the reader is taken on a journey from the high desert of the Southwest, across the Midwestern prairies to New England, and along the North Sea Coast. Rich imagery, real and imagined landscapes, and a final section of ekphrastic work inspired by artists from Breughal to Dan Namingha complete this deeply meditative volume by David Rachlin.
Topographies of Light
By David RachlinAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2012 David Rachlin
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4772-3977-3Contents
Topographies of Light......................................................1Arrival....................................................................2Four ink drawings by Dan Namingha..........................................3Cliffs.....................................................................7Rain Over Truchas..........................................................8El Malpaís............................................................9Desert View 1..............................................................10Tomorrow I Will Drive to Abiquiu...........................................11Abiquiu....................................................................13After Reading Momaday......................................................14Plaza Blanca, Abiquiu......................................................16Inner Courtyard............................................................17One Small Rock.............................................................18Walking Rain Near Taos Mountain............................................19For That Young Man in Taos.................................................20Five Retablos..............................................................21Rocks I....................................................................23Rocks II...................................................................24A High Desert Collage......................................................25Lost Languages.............................................................26Poems for My Father........................................................27Houses.....................................................................30Birch Trees................................................................31Petroglyph Inventory, Moab, Utah...........................................32Desert View II.............................................................33A Midwestern Convocation...................................................34Short Manifest of Genocide.................................................35Making More Ruts in the Mud................................................36Signal Mountain, Wyoming...................................................37Prairie....................................................................38An Inland Periplus.........................................................39Clouds.....................................................................40Maps.......................................................................41Shrine 1...................................................................42Shrine 2...................................................................43Shrine 3...................................................................45Shrine 4...................................................................46Shrine 5...................................................................48Shrine 6...................................................................49View of Alkmaar, North Holland.............................................50Panoramic View of the Amstel Looking towards Amsterdam.....................51Rusting Angel..............................................................52Meditations on Vermeer.....................................................53The Goldfinch..............................................................56Wanderer at the Edge of the Sea............................................57Two Men Observing the Moon.................................................58Notes on the Poems.........................................................59Acknowledgements...........................................................63
Chapter One
Topographies of Light Almonds and pistachios ground to a course meal
Burnt umber singes on old parchments
Candles burning in the inner depths of caves
Damp trails through the wooded maple hills
Evergreen oil smoothed into the dovetail joints of bridges
Forests where the deer are shadows at dusk
Gazelle tracks in the mud after the solar eclipse
Haze and smoke rising from the volcanic rim
Ink spots on leather-bound books of songs no longer sung
Jasper, agates, and jade strung on crystal chains
Kaleidoscopes where images appear as dreams
Languages used by men who love old maps
Memory of blue iris where they could never survive
Night scents on the handles of worn suitcases
Oak leaves attached to balsa wood with beaver quills
Pebbles polished by time running out with the tide
Quests for silver under the wingspan of doves
Remaining warmth of chants
Shadows of caribou on snowy shores of lakes
Thin layers of mica peeled from the surface of the future
Umbers and sepias washed ashore after a winter storm
Veins of marble running through the night sky
Water as steam and ice flowing from glacier-scarred plains
Xylem tracking gold from the moon
Yarns wrapped around the sounds of flight
Zealous wings of butterflies on the yaw of wind
Arrival What were you expecting from the desert?
Mica alone is not a metaphor.
Nor are the sudden saguaro blooms,
the prickly pears, the tall chollas, or the rushing arroyos
whose whispers meant words you couldn't hear.
The long interstates from up north
drew you along the indecipherable white lines.
Dash dash dash as if someone spelled it out for you
in a riddle you needed to unravel,
monotonous and without meaning.
Stopping in Tucumcari. The bowl of chili
had a layer of grease,
the screen door had tears where flies entered.
The car dashboard insinuated the coming dark
though you could only squint
as the highway shimmered on for miles.
Four ink drawings by Dan Namingha 1.
The mesa is a hovering place waiting to rise
pauses in its current shape
a black stone flute
or the squared off abstraction of a feather
dwelling in the music of air
and lowers itself in the absence of wind
to draw maps
in the thin layer of sand
where lizards lie
and roadrunners cross
and men...