My Poem "A Photo Caption" which I read at King's Books

Visited The Poetry Series at King's Books last night.  The reader was Maya Ganasan, a really young lady who began writing poems when she was even younger.  Connie Walle was enthusiastic about her and clearly enjoyed introducing her and having her there.  I read in the open mike, this poem is the one I decided to read, an appreciation of a caption from one of the books from the Arcadia History series:

A PHOTO CAPTION

            from Old Tacoma, by Carolince Gallaci

            and the Tacoma Historical Society

 

A Streetcar tells the editorial we: 

Old Tacoma, Caroline Gallacci and the Tacoma Historical Society - "A streetcar rounding the bend at North McCarver and Thirtieth Street, with the Lowell School bell tower in the distance, tells us that this Paul Richards photograph was taken at the very end of the 19th century."   

If the streetcar tells

someone, they are the editors.

What the streetcar tells  

the book's reader

is not known to the editors, but the caption

continues, not intimidated

by the unknown,  Seven blocks

to the right of the photo

two girls set out for another

morning of school, Lowell School, 

the steep walk up McCarver.

The streetcar and Lowell School

bell tower

show me the blocks, for three years by then, 

they walked along,

rising above it.

The Editors titled the photograph,

Continuing Presence

of Native Americans: 

"a native american  couple

casting off their canoe 

after a day of gathering

clams along the beach",   

The native american women

dominates the foreground, 

the man can be seen

and the eye sorts out the canoe

from other boats at the dock.   

The couple

are not old.  They board  

the canoe.  The caption explains

a native village to the left. 

The middle ground repeats

and repeats a visual pattern.

This pattern iresembles the definition of the editors'

 

word Ramshackle.

for the close scattered structures.

this middle ground has all the permanance

of close scattered structures.

 

Akin to Old Norse soekja, to seek,

is Old Norse Rannsaka, to search a rann,

or house, for stolen goods,

whence Middle English ransaken.

 

English, to ransack, which has

frequent ransackle, past participle

ransackled, whence ranshackled,

whence ramshackled, whence

the still further eased Ramshackle, adjective. 

The close scattered structures. 

Seven blocks to the right

Some morning within 

the girls thoughts

Uncle Abraham and his wife who is

so old, carried the gear 

they had accumulated

away to The Gold Rush.  

The Photo tells me

when Abraham returned, the steep hill

was diminished, was no longer

so much a hill.  The Chilkuut Pass 

made their Tacoma home

less remarkable.  Did

she hear the girls outside

and open the curtain?

Never could Anna Malm say it

was an end to the bachelor days, Johan

and Anna and Abraham,

batching on the hillside, 

Johan and Johanna

had their daughters to send to school.