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