Jerome Rothenberg: Some Addenda to “A Seneca Journal”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[In advance of the forthcoming reprint by Nine Point Press of my 1978 book, A Seneca Journal, the following are some of the poems omitted from the original publication & now ready to be seen anew.  Other work from the Seneca years has appeared since then in Shaking the Pumpkin & elsewhere. (J.R.)]

 

A Seneca Memory

At Harry Watt’s old place

above the Allegany River
Leo Cooper tells me:
“I could have been the first
“American Indian
“rabbi    were it not for my love
“of pork                                                                                                                                                
circa 1972, Salamanca NY

For A Seneca Journal: “The Grandfather”

Bucktooth, about middling height,

spare & thin, hair cut close to his head, quite white.  He
     resides near the mouth of  Bucktooth Creek
8 miles above Coldspring on the northern bank of the
     Allegany near his cabin are the Bucktooth Mills
     Bucktooth Hotel & Bucktooth Postoffice
So his name is likely to have a local celebrity long after he

     shall have passed away.

Memo.  Old Bucktooth died June 1851.  Ben Williams letter,
Sept. 4, 1851.

In the Direction of the Equator but My Feet Still Facing North

pale eyes.  the tree

is friendly
friend Jerome    he says
my watch says
3:15.
I walk to the old corner of Main Street
past the Seneca
Theater & cross
the bridge.  hello
you citizens of
Salamanca.
hello the dog says.
he is the tree’s friend
& mine.
he is a silly yellow
color.  eyes are shining
lightly into eyes.
in Yucatan the skies are never
empty & the trees
of Yucatan talk Mayan.
someone tells us:
you are going on a trip.

Two Sky Poems

1

the sky is a large
animal
             we live
under its tongue

2

my tongue is a large
animal
             grunting
is how we see the sky

The Beaver 1-12

THE BEAVER (1)

They shall eat it.

THE BEAVER (2)

In her womb.

 

THE BEAVER (3)

And the sand lizard.

THE BEAVER (4)

He comes running.

 

THE BEAVER (5)

Someone slain.

 

THE BEAVER (6)

Their father.

 

THE BEAVER (7)

His sins.

 

THE BEAVER (8)

A harlot.

 

THE BEAVER (9)

In the heat.

 

THE BEAVER (10)

He shall lead.

 

THE BEAVER (11)

The prophet.

 

THE BEAVER (12)

And he built.

[composed by gematria]

Ritual Poem

dead dog –

– my enemy –
dead stone
dead stallion
– my deliverer –
dead mind
dead metal
dead appendage
– king of promises –
–  my burden –
first & foremost
–  my dead star –