M. KETTNER ant ant ant ant ant five
May 18, 2010 § 1 Comment
WRENCH IN A COFFEE CAN
:
words
spent fuel
gum beneath counters
:
dawn / a can of spilled paint
:
after we part
a glove floats by
on the river
:
fast moving clouds / picket fence missing a slat
:
Secanol
Ping-Pong ball caught in a vacuum
parking tickets unpaid
:
your hair drawn back / the sharp taste of radishes
:
snow-covered fields
sound of a distant truck
changing gears
:
scratchy throat / wrapper caught in a fan
:
cavity
crow shadow
on snow
:
the back of your neck
through the rain
a car’s horn
:
autumn wind / sliding over empty table tops
:
no one home
dust ball
base of a chair leg
:
blocking the alley / a rusted water heater
:
list growing
waves eating away the shore
pull-chain worn
:
sitting on sandpaper
your hesitation
a hole in a plastic bag
:
teeth just cleaned / new bake-ware
:
Saturday rain
wrench in
a coffee can
:
through cattails / a refinery
:
one of those days
vacuum cleaner
in a vegetable garden
:
black of moonless waters
two front teeth
missing
:
biting her nails / coffee cold
:
old puddle
in the sediment
dead worms
:
winter’s endless rain / the scorched bottom of pans
:
wind
blowing through the house
fingerprints on the mirror
:
quiet afternoon
at home
full penny jar
:
spring thaw / tarp pulled back
:
overnight
in an unfamiliar city
slug in a vending machine
:
dusk / the spray-painted traffic sign
:
stark escarpment
heart a bag of rocks
ocean a distant pool table
:
ant5 
very gritty — very Kettner — very american (as in WCW) “through cattails / a refinery.” Reading them, I kept thinking Kette is deutsch for ‘chain’ and ketten = to bind with chain — the poems in their parts like links of a chain and that strong.