Poet Laundry: History

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Now & Then

Now, the streets are worn and cobbled,

but among them I still hover, hobble—

survivor of the fate, the madness, of the war.

Then, it was otherworldly,

that Italian sketchbook summer,

flesh-flushed out in lush, romantic watercolor form.

Then, we walked

through wildflowers,

caught our dresses on the hands of orchids,

bridged the brushsong birdsong,

daisies threaded in our hair.

Now, that page has turned,

but I return to the art of tenderness alone—

stumbling, trying still

to catch our spirits’ crash

before the fall broke us to stone.

Shay’s Word Garden Word List: Tenderness

dVerse Poetics: Fated, OLN

Day 24 NPM

Monday, August 28, 2017

Qin

Armored Charioteer

Holding the reins

of dynasty,

the red spread,

conquering

until conquered,

in mercurial endings—

buried

and forgotten

with the bones

of their makers, their lips

like tombs.

Notes:

I recently toured the fascinating Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China display in Seattle. Thousands of the life-size clay soldiers, each with unique characteristics, were buried with the Emperor. They were discovered in 1974 and are an epic archaeological find.

Emperor Qin consumed mercury in hopes of preventing his death which is believed to have hastened it. He also had rivers of flowing mercury installed in his tomb. Laborers who helped build Qin’s tomb complex were buried in it for secrecy regarding its location and treasures within.