Marcella Durand
 
 

 
 
 

   Embroider
 
 

Etiquette of position
determines movement

and edgework across
the bridge of swaying,

this structure which pulls
up the certain iron

and through which water
visible turns under

the grates. The one end of the
crossing and the particular

sound of contact, flat
against the current, below.

Politeness demands
a cactus demeanor, a rare

species growing against
cliffs in micro-climate,

an egg of air & warmth
created by this stone

red-like and extremely
complicated in sediment,

a stitchery of layers. This is a
geographical space, here,

described in a skein
of crosshatchment. It

exists, close to a river,
upon the water, almost

crossing it, in a green
bridge, from one

iron end to another.
A patina of river ion

stirred up by underground
cave and more rivers

into which children swim
and live all together

after leaving the surface
delaware world of

cacti & cliffs, redness &
cars, suspension and

support. Your hands depict
it in fingers and joints

creating friction and then
a chemical reaction.

A knuckle cracking
thumbprint then catching,

red & white in the river
light, the cold, the frost

drifts across the descending
hills, the erosion and

streams, springs emerging
from higher coal streaks,

a stone house sifted downwards
from the higher access road.

A skein of warmth in the
foundation shifted closer

to the cellars, and the low sun
catches within the stones

and masonry and web
of materials, to give off

a quarry glow and to
foster an egg, a friction,

reaction. A photosynthesis of caves,
below this house

shifted lower to the river,
which we pick thru

mindful of the floors
becoming valleys

and erosion of walls
turning cacti, prickly

in our sun interactions,
picking and stitching

in exploration, sum of cross-
hatchment and

crossing, river below visible
thru grate and

greenery, flowering and egg-like
in warmth and

rarity, structure, support
& geographical

location.

 

(c)1999 Marcella Durand
All rights reserved.
 
 

Marcella Durand's next chapbook, "City of Ports," is forthcoming this spring from Situations Press. She is the co-editor of "Venice (the invisible city)" and the Program Coordinator for the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church.