Anthony Seidman

 

 

 

Two Allegiances

 

 

I hold two allegiances: this terrain, & the night.

 

Between them, falls the eternal:

sun, earth’s orbit, minerals,

vegetation, hibernation of bears.

 

These foothills, chaparral,

are my country, these gas stations,

these sub-par public schools, vacant

lots & miles of asphalt…

 

they are the sigil

I behold thru smog:

 

California, veiled

in black, passes by holding

a bloody carnation;

 

I click key in ignition, hear

engine turn-over with a groan,

then set

this hearse in motion.

 

 

 

Anthony Seidman © 2010

The Trilobite

 

 

A Cambrian thru Permian

eras invertebrate, crawled

 

& burrowed in shallow ocean stretches

for millions of years,

 

feeding on organic ooze &

particles from the sea-floor,

 

legs pushing nutrients

into their mouths also propelled

 

them thru sediment.

 

They were lovely,

with a chitinous armor

 

that resembled the lines &

interstices on a Mondrian;

 

as with the modern lobster,

crab, they seasonally cast

 

off their shells, leaving

the amateur & paleontologist with

 

thousands of effigies like

abandoned cars overtaking a vacant lot.

 

 

 

 

Anthony Seidman © 2010