Five Poems by Lara Dolphin

 

How to Find Yeston and Kopit’s Phantom

From the Hobby Center in downtown Houston
head north until you arrive in Seattle.
Be sure to dress for the weather.
At the end of the run go south to San Bernardino.
On your day off visit the National Forest.
When they pack up the sets
and take the show on the road
stop in Daytona Beach, Wichita and Albuquerque.
You’re going the wrong direction
so book a flight abroad for the international tour.
When you get homesick,
come back to the United States
for some all-American dinner theatre.
By and by you get hungry for more—
the Great White Way is calling.
From Elmsford take a bus (and train or subway)
or taxi or car into Manhattan.
Follow Broadway.
Come into Midtown and look up the Majestic.
Quelle surprise!
The perfect haunt in which to watch
your fourth favourite musical horror is vacant.
You’ve arrived at your destination
after only three decades.

How to Find the Tree that Owns Itself 

On the first day of your monthly period
start next to the elm beneath which
you planted your placenta ten years ago  

Head out of town and
get on the interstate
until Athens becomes the control city

Avoid construction by getting off one exit early
Follow the detour until you see
signs for Oconee National forest

Pull over at Costco for a new hat
before heading to Bear Hollow Zoo
to check on the wildlife

If Cali N’ Tito’s is open,
make sure to stop
for fish tacos

Near the University of Georgia
take Broad Street west;
then make a left onto South Finley

Careful not to trample the neighbour’s begonias
proceed to the corner
and stand in the shade of the great white oak

Near the base of the tree
a stone slab bears witness
to what was conveyed in spirit and deed

Above branches sway freely
for though the title is flawed
sovereignty is not forfeit

A sentient being
at the least and in the main
does and must belong to itself




[She Sails Off To The Cab]

With a wave of Don Bosco’s wand
the ivory sculpture comes to life–
sensing a spuddlegruncher from one of Higgins’ lectures
and anxious to avoid his constant negging,
she takes a fistful of bills from her entrepreneurial hustle
and with a coltish wave hails a passing taxi,
for Eliza knows that society opens for the twee and lovely
but commerce opens for any oik with money to spend.

Brandolini’s Climate

The daughter of time will bite back against bunk and bullshit
until Earth’s balance is brought by evidence-based science
to symmetry and the sense that we are all in this the same

Invocation Over Athelas

From his sack the ranger drew an herb, crushed it
and threw the rimy, redolent weed into the billycan
for utter dread would not have its day
among the friends on Weathertop.
As he cleansed the Morgul-wound
singing faint and tender tunes
of tables laid with barley ale,
honey cakes and salted stews
the cursed poison
began to lift
and what was cold
moved nearer to the light.
Then at last the hobbit’s sight returned
and he saw reflected in the faces of his friends
not only a memory of the Shire
but also a vision of the journey yet ahead.

 

 

 

Lara Dolphin - A native of Pennsylvania, Lara Dolphin is an attorney, nurse, wife and mom of four amazing kids. Her first chapbook, In Search Of The Wondrous Whole, was published by Alien Buddha Press. Her most recent chapbook, Chronicle Of Lost Moments, is available from Dancing Girl Press.