SHARON CARTER


Sharon Carter


POETRY PAGE 1.

You are Visitor

  • Dusk Falls On The Hand Of Fatima
  • Singing The Bones
  • A Winter Of Ice
  • Deja -Vu











    Dusk Falls On The Hand Of Fatima *


    You have to see Salamanca for yourself-
    all that light and tangents of stone:
    sky cobalt blue, storks on rooftops,
    buildings colored like ripe wheat,
    doors opening to the hand of Fatima.

    Tourists wander streets
    which do not remember them, faceless
    footsteps over ground travelled
    by Christopher Columbus, El Cid.
    What remains are inventories
    written in bull’s blood and olive oil
    across university walls: the names
    of medieval students revealed
    layer upon layer in a palimpsest of success.

    Swallows arabesque above Casa de Las Conchas,
    the sun’s radiance etched into its scalloped façade.
    You pay for a beer, sit among the murmur of crowds.
    Later you will strive to recall this experience,
    and it will feel like your hand sliding
    across a sheet of silk.

    *Regional door knocker.




    SINGING THE BONES

    Ozette, where the jaw bones sing
    in splintered ivory notes.
    Where the oracle speaks to the sea,
    and grass whips across rocks
    whispering the sound of wind.
    Time has driven into the center
    of these wooden carcasses,
    shades of grey and brown
    rotting through centuries
    of salty air. Their long bones
    bleached white, spill across
    darkened stumps
    and mankind's synthetic detritus.

    Seal sirens wallow by the shore
    lamenting time's passage.
    They chant quietly in Latin verse:
    "Tibia, Fibula, Tarsal, Scapula,"
    displaying seaweed hair, and kelp
    woven clothes, squinting life
    into a slit on the horizon.
    As I gaze out to sea,
    my auricles curve to the prophecy,
    this opera of what might be,
    and what has gone before.
    These wishbones bracket my heart,
    then break with superstition.
    I do not hear my voice,
    but the wind, singing its ancient
    rhythms through my bones.

    (TAPJoE 1995)

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    E-Mail: Click Here to Email Me

    Sharon Carter obtained her medical degree at Cambridge University, England. She immigrated in 1979 and lives in Washington State, home of Mt St Helen, Seattle and fabulous Puget Sound. She enjoys backpacking, skiing, long bicycle rides (and soon) kayaking. Yes, it rains a lot in the Emerald State, but who cares if you have Gortex. She supports her writing and visual art by working in a mental health clinic.

    Web Page created and designed by Sharon Carter.

    October 1st 1998.

    Portrait by Pamela Dionne.


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