A Poet a Day 19: A.K. “Mimi” Allin
Day 19 brings us Seattle poet Mimi Allin, with a poem entitled “here now white.”
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE POEM
Whether or not you’ve read Mimi’s work before, chances are, for those in the Seattle area, you’ve seen her work in action, whether curating an event or serving as the unofficial poet-in-residence at Green Lake. I mention this because Mimi’s work is as much about performance and movement as it is about the words on the page. In “here now white,” we have a poem that dances its way through a wash of colors and images, and leaves us delighted to be part of the ocean’s foam.
here now white
somewhere in the middle of the sea
stands a strange village
made of broken pilings and piers
in a tower there
waits a princess
most dreadfully alone
her suitors come
by boat
but most are too big
their sails too wide
their hulls too fat
to fit through
the labyrinth
of pilings
to get to her
she is a tower at sea
she imagines them
on the horizon
the color of a wave
blue waves white
in the air the moon
over the sea
she sleeps from morning til night
and wakes every evening
to find a magic boot
filled with ink
outside her window
knocking against the wall
perhaps he sent it
she thinks
through the pilings
it came
and so she writes
the color of a wave
using the lace of his boot
she writes
on a dark page—
tie your sails in tight
use the passage of
the shortest pilings
follow the terns’ nests
to the last wall
when it looks like you can go no further
sail in very close
you will see an overlapping passage
take this channel
until you see my tower
i will use a white kerchief
to guide you in
if i hold a blue cloth
you must go back
if red you are in danger
tie to the nearest piling and wait
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A Poet a Day is a month-long celebration of poets and poetry, in honor of National Poetry Month. Writers reserve all rights to their work, and all work appears with their permission.
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Tags: A Poet a Day, AK Allin, Mimi Allin, National Poetry Month, northwest poet, Northwest poetry
