Window-Washer

 

Image by 4×6

 

 

scaffold and hoist
wash the faces of commerce
but stains remain set
where the pigeons took roost
and investors were filleted

 

 

(originally published November 2013)

Aural History

 

 

“South Street Seaport – Financial District” – Photo by Suman and Sharmila

 

 

iron-rimmed wheels

drawn by iron-shod hooves

gave a clattering cadence

reverbing dull bells

ringing atonal peals

along ill-masoned lanes

of Belgian block cobbles

and dredged Venice stones

bilge-pitted from urine

of a hundred stout lads

crude ballast unshipped

for a nickel a ton

from heart-of-oak vessels

of mercantile Brits

singing Cockney crew lingo

with cargo commands

over heaps dropped in nets

upon creaking tarred wharves

Schermerhorn Dutch

gave out guttural barks

to the breaking breeze humming

through neatly reefed yards

slung up high-crossed on masts

overtowering docks

where a nautical polyglot

spilled its cacophony

up and down gangplanks East

Indiamen hove in place

with great bangs and hard crashes

that echoed across the wide

swift running current dividing

Manhattan from Brooklyn

from my forty-floored glass

looking down on the seaport

when sail-masted schooners

or frigates would moor

all the sounds of the centuries

rose up to reach me

transporting me back to

that wild newborn world

of rapscallion romance

and mean edged adventure

where men grunted glory

for merely surviving

another new day

all the time feeling wistful

that I had been born

too long after my time

***********************************

 

(Note: my office was on the 40th floor of the octagonal tower at enter of the photo)

 

 

(originally posted November 2013)

Hong Kong

 

“Hong Kong Panorama 2013” by Tim C. Wong

 

 

maritime crossroads

commerce and cultures

collide and connect

here the occident

married the orient

hybrid metropolis

hugging the harbor

prolific of highrise

in spirit and stone

an autonomous jewel

of the south china sea

markets free in full

flourish the first of

the four asian tigers

society teeming with

aptitudes ancient and

modern successful

beyond its own dreams

despite ominous fleeing

of ghosts from a dead

british empire chased

by the looming dark

communist shadows of

mainland encroachment

 

 

From my book Onionskin

Tea Chest

 

“Reception of Mysorean Hostage Princes” by Robert Home

 

 

relic of the raj

piece of home

in an alien land

genteel reminder

of the mission

self-appointed

to civilize savage

motifs of a pagan

subcontinent

bring to it gifts

of a centralized

democracy tying

a noose round a

feudal archipelago

all in the interest

of primary goals to

commercialize via

monopoly vast

untapped resources

leaving behind a

three century

legacy still in debate

as to how much an

ancient admixture

of cultures was

either severely

demeaned or

enabled to stand

among moderns

politely discussing

the tides and the

times of the world as

they sit down to tea

 

 

From my books Onionskin and Legacies (vol. 2)

South Street Seaport

“South Street Seaport”
Painting by Anderson Tyler
From artvalue.com

docks built by Dutch traders
old Schermerhorn Row moving
indigo spices the spectrum of teas
pearls and porcelain finding
exchange among English goods
drawn to the busiest port in
the colonies fortunes amassed
in conversion of cargoes to
specie and gold futures won
just as easily lost on the turn of
one voyage that fickle Atlantic
whose now and then baleful
eyes poured out most punishing
weather this maritime rowdy
casino of commerce dealt hands
steep with risk and reward
its deep pilings supporting a
capital system that grew up
to skyscrape the lofty ambitions
of liberty’s greatest experiment

Silkworm

Photo by shutterstock
From inhabitat.com

domestic cocoons
sacrifice their architects
unravel commerce