Aught, no. 4 (2000)

Stephen Bett

Nineties Found Poem: A Personal Chronology, with One Year Left to Y2K

1.

sweaters (cotton; acrylic)
cowboy boots (Boulet)
headbands (Fila)
toiletries (Colgate; Mitchum)
new age (Tangerine Dream; P. Buffett)
sport socks (LeVI'S)
vests (leather; suede)
tanks (budget; travel)
ear plugs (silicone)
boxers (various)
YJ/TJ (Hunter green)
central/eastern Euro-fiction (inter-/post-bellum)
T's (Premier; Serie A)
Hotspur (FA; reserves)
malamute (Alaskan)      

2.

icebags (wraparound)
innerwear (Zoloft/Effexor/Rivotril, extra strength)
Netscape (E-zines; Fanzines)

One for Massachusetts (& five serendipities)

There's a poem here somewhere
naked below the dash (you solenoid tease           key
locked in our rental car                      we're right outside

one big weathered white clapboard house
homage chez Olson, 28 Fort Square (2nd fl)
                              Gloucester Harbor

all 94 degrees of it, humid            squinting
sagely tourista, face to Pentax            layered heat
wired skyline to a shrinking
Ten Pound Island              the landlord's son-in-law

& I finally abort attempt at auto-break
                                    (a guy thing, persistent, our ten-
                                     year-old informs his mom
that coat hanger not trusty, rusty enough
abandon handyman to the triple-A pro
w/ the half-ton & winch, plenty
to lift even a virtual Maximus of T

one Big O could find
serendipitous to sing

                                         I know a dress just sewed
                                                                  (saw the wind

                                         blow its cotton
                                         against her body
                                         from the ankle
                                                         so!
                                         it was Nike

& I too swing manic, intent on relics
local commerce, what's authentic like design-your-own
Nike T's stamped Cape Ann
                                                        She
                                            was going fast
                                            across the square, the water

                                            this time of year, that
                                            scarce

                                            And the fish

so my wife gunning the rental out front
thinks offal, thinks visitez les slums
                                                Dogtown my
one requisite stop along a stunner coast
coves & ha'bors without end

                                        the Big Bean
                                        to Portsmouth & Rye

know I'll dash
off to it     also

Copyright © 2000, by the author. All rights reserved.
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