to Jill
RHODA. When we move into our new house can we have a
scuppernong arbor, Mother? Can we, Mother? It’s so shady, and
pretty, and I love sitting in it.
The Bad Seed, Act I, Scene 4
Over from the rhododactylous dome of the courthouse in Hackensack,
when the wintery night sky at the ultramarine hour is lapis lazuli,
down to our courtyard in south Philadelphia close upon Passyunk,
while lunching alfresco,
when the bright afternoon buzzes with summery moistness,
the ailanthus, the tree of heaven ( ai lanto)
the tree of the gods in the highest, Ailanthus altissima,
Ailanthus excelsa, makes its arch over us,
jungling and exotic, marking its passage.
Just as the willows guard a river or waterway,
so too ailanthus guards our highways, our alleyways, our byways.
Not the classic acanthus of Corinthian antiquity, but the ailanthus,
corrupt with Oriental ubiquity, rank,
the ailing ailanthus aiding not the air
stretches its sinewy, sappy slenderness, more graceful than
a fuck-fingering gingko sapling, but less charming,
flinging itself up and out or diagonally and/or dactylically,
stinking in the off season, stinking like gingko gonadia,
gingko gone to seed, your compatriot gingko.
You greet us with your hyacinthine panicles, stinking and glandular,
poking about, stretching, sprouting, scouting about, proliferate,
profligate, tough. You are everywhere, tough,
and you're on the move, tough, like us. α'ι αˆι α͗ι αˆι
to Jill
RHODA. When we move into our new House, we can have one became became became scuppernong Arbor, MOM? Can we, mother? It is so strange, and pretty, and I love to sit in it.
Bad seed, Act I, scene 4
Opposite the rhododactylous dome of the courthouse in Gilleleje
is wintry night sky on Ultramarine hour lapisblå body color, lazuli,
down to our farm in South Philadelphia near the Passyunk,
while stone church alfresco,
when bright afternoon buzzes with summer humidity,
type of tree, the tree of Heaven (ai lanto)
tree of the gods at the top, sort of, kind of tree tree altissima
excelsa, makes a vault across the United States
jungling, and exotic, mark its passage.
Just like willows security guard protecting a river or waterway,
so type tree our highways, our streets, our tours.
Not the classical Corinthian björnklo of antiquity, but nice tree,
ruins of Oriental utbreddheten rang,
the distressed sort of trees do not
prolong the sinewy, sappy aiding depends on slendernesshastighet, more graceful than
seventeen-finger gingko leaf, but less charming,
talk themselves up and out diagonally or dactylically,
stinking in the off-season, stinking like gingko gonadia,
gingko gone to seed, your compatriot gingko.
You greet us with your hyacinthine rockers, smelly and glandular tissue and circuits,
stretching, germination, scouting, multiply,
wasteful, tough. You are everywhere, hard,
and you're on the go, tough, just like us. Ai ai ai ai
“Ailanthus”: From John J. Trause, Inside Out, Upside Down, and Round and Round (New Delhi : Nirala Publications, 2012), p. 85.
“Type of tree”: From John J. Trause, Exercises in High Treason (New York : great weather for MEDIA, 2016)
“Type of tree” is a result of “Ailanthus” translated into Swedish and back into English successively using an online translation engine: http://translation2.paralink.com. Years ago, I was in a writers group, which met in Manhattan, New York City, and one of the members was Cecilia Cederstrom from Sweden, who was a writer, editor, and professional translator. On the evening that we discussed my poem “Ailanthus,” with its neologisms and rich lexical qualities, she said that as a challenge she wanted to translate it into Swedish. After several weeks, she said that she had to give up, since the exercise was impossible. I chose seven as the number of times to run the poem back and forth in an online translation engine, since the word “seven” in Swedish is sju, a very hard word to pronounce, and the classic pronunciation of 7,777 in Swedish, sju tusen sju hundra sjuttiosju, is considered a tongue twister that separates native from non-native speakers. I call it the “Swedish sjibboleth.”