4 May 2005 | Vol. 5, No. 1

To Somewhere or By

A forest that gives way to paper.

Tarpaulin scratched across pages of verbs.

A door leading to your porcelain yes.

Pink undertones entwined or a cold sore.

Her spine curves into the turnstile.

He nuzzles closer, twice her size.

Language concealed in flashing signals.

There is rain on the rails.

The lavender in a dream (with ruffles).

Oil-slick bubbles in a burnt-blue shimmer.

The O in a vowel made from oak.

Mail that consists mostly of bills.

A leaf against my cheek.

Knew it was, anyway, and tug-of-warring.

About the author:

After almost a decade of working as a freelance photographer in Europe, Maurice Oliver returned to America in 1990 to work for the Los Angeles Times. In 1995, he made a lifelong dream reality by traveling around the world for eight months. But instead of taking pictures, he used the same creative energy to record the experience in a journal, which eventually became dozens of poems. His poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming in The Potomac Journal, Circle Magazine, Tryst3 Journal, Eye-Shot, FRiGG, and Red China. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon, where he works as a private tutor.

For further reading:

See the complete list of work by Maurice Oliver at 42opus. Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 5, No. 1, where "To Somewhere or By" ran on May 4, 2005. List other work with these same labels: poetry.

42opus is an online magazine of the literary arts.

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