Leggott, Michele

many hands
   day six

1. the oranges are gone so we pack
2. the last of the ambrosia into bags and head
3. for Cockatoo Island    outside the fragrance
4. of fish sauce is overpowering and vendors
5. push handcarts piled high with teaspoons
6. buttons and clips for the families of dead soldiers
7. it’s Legacy Day it’s going gangbusters
8. with many hands to dig out an appellation
9. for this and other adventures we’d like to see
10. between our islands and their talking coasts
11. voters    peons    yahoos      café    casino    garage
12. reef    riff    roulette    séance    shipwreck    wilderness
13. we’re not going to solve it today and so
14. the expeditions take their leave of one another
15. promising to meet again one day soon
16.  
17. at the quay someone steps forward
18. with a talisman for the voyage      smooth in my hand
19. covered with bright trails and beating hearts      a stone
20. she calls caterpillar dreaming      a painted stone
21. from a place we can know nothing of      a gift to carry
22. to the island of abandoned industry redoubts
23. and cells for recalcitrants cut into the living rock
24. was there a fever hospital a dry dock a sail loft?
25. did the people of this place climb the hill
26. for eggs from the nests of these raging birds?
27. a libation in plastic glasses we make to them
28. the birds and the people      then the boat called
29. FRIENDSHIP floats us back in time to catch
30. the haka in front of a blow-up football
31. swaying gently beside the water
32.  
33. let’s ride the monorail that tram
34. in the sky whose thunder reminds us
35. with pink and green cars that the Jetsons
36. will live forever      let’s walk in the park
37. as the sun goes down and the bats begin
38. their hunt      memory reflects in a pool
39. with lights and a mausoleum      there’s the hospital
40. the little pig with the golden snout
41. and water dripping from his bristly chin
42. there’s the mint then the barracks that became
43. an asylum      there are the railings
44. and behind them the benches where one might sit
45. looking out at the balmy world
46. but your rules are the ravings of fevers
47. bred of shadows fantastic and vain
48. that are spun by the little white weavers
49. in the mystical loom of the brain
50. this is Lola 1906      she is good at reversing
51. the view and giving the silent a voice
52.  
53. at Mother Chu’s we eat vegetarian
54. Peking duck and wonder about the wantons
55. crispy or with soup      delicious either way
56. the fishy pungence blanketing the city
57. has cleared off      we reach Macchiato
58. and get takeouts as rain begins to fall
59.  
60. little boar il porcellino
61. in your Florentine fountain pool
62. with frogs and turtles crabs and scallops
63. mustered at your feet      fresh water salt water
64. gift of a contessa little dribbling pig
65. whose nose we rubbed in the dark for luck
66. as memory unfolded contrejour against
67. the light of an Uffizi workroom      your silhouette
68. a restoration      a glimpse      another world