A n n e   F e s s e n d e n

To Everyman, His Den
(or the NEW ARK)

Let them come to your den,
my brother said.
I always went.
They never came.
Today, no den.

I can find my way
all over China.
Newark, from this halfway place
is too hard to enter.  Less
familiar than Tibetan ritual.

Its rhythm lifts the world
out of the bog of being.
It won't enter
Stay away it says
Let goodness come.
 
What do I know
where have I been other than
the other side of the earth;
coming down the Mekong longing
for streets of Luang Prabang
last city of Asia still intact.

Newark is a small Kingdom building
to which a Way exists across the dividing
river into the western land as sun sinks
golden red behind the rising City
absorbed in its own construction.
 
 

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cover
contents

N E W A R K   R E V I E W

Vol. 2, set 5