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“Idyllwild Dreaming” is a series of poems on dreaming and the imagination. New poems from this series will be published every month as a on-going Playtime feature. Featured this month: “Rush Hour at Marylebone,” “views of the city,” “views of the country,” and “the redwood.” The form of “views of the city” and “views of the country” are inspired by Wallace Steven’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”–-a poem that, I’ll admit, have a difficult time finding overarching meaning. “The redwood” is written as an homage to Louise Glück’s fantastic collection The Wild Iris.

Again: my gratitude to all the Playtime contributors for their feedback & support. Enduring thanks to my editor, Matt Kessen.

Rush Hour at Marylebone

The crowd surges through cross-ways,
bursting around taxis.
Refuge is underground.

Orange-lettered doldrums,
shopping-clutches
scattered amongst elbows.
No one watches for trains.

Yet heads
like clover & ryegrass
bend supple to the south:

it barrels in, breathing
masses onto pitched embrace
of platform, tunnel, track–
gray corridors worn, cracked;

and it flashes silver, white, or blue–
as quick as applause it grinds away.

Autumn already.
The air is chill,
slips through my fingers
like a dove.

views of the city

I. the pillar
Gray brick mortar sheath for steel crossbar:
childhood wrapped around a heart.

II. air guitar god
He chooses cello themes on the subway.
I’ll bet you it sounds like Prokofiev, asshole.

III. the skyscraper
Rain-drenched glass: tell me you don’t dream of touching
in the curved finitude of california blue.

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