hills roll up and out
beyond the last reach of the sea
curled up,
the small green bones of mountain upon mountain
mashed and heaped from volcanoes and deltas and plains
then washed away.
hap hazard
timber neck
welsh adventure
diligence
mary borne
ridgelys delight.
a warren of plantations and farms in the hills around the harbor
with narrow roads through the marshes and woods
anna and captain jones lived on this land
planting tobacco by the great eastern road.
anna surveyed the river with a looking glass
captain jones wore a sword when he walked among the rows
tapping a gold ring against the hilt in time with his footsteps
until he was sick in body and his dear wife buried him here.
he left edward and sara and moses and danall each a cow with calf
he gave miles and john each a gold ring
he gave george williams to robert gibson.
anna married a commander of the rangers in green spring valley
forty-one pounds sterling
and forty-two shillings
for speculation.
sixteen thousand pounds sterling,
for one hundred thousand pounds of pig iron
shipped across the sea.
then iron for war
wanted
to go to maryland
a young man unmarried
a blacksmith
a young man
who understands latin, greek, and mathematics
healthy young men and women
will meet with good encouragement and be well treated on board this vessel
six healthy men that understand farming
they must be sober and accustomed to labor
girls over eighteen years of age
who are unable to pay their full passage
will be assisted by a gentleman living in this country.
shall serve according to his/her power, wit, and ability
and honestly, orderly, and obediently
in all things demean and behave.
will be led to understand the meaning of life
and his/her place in it
gods of tobacco demanded more leaf
so vassals complied
using torture and mass murder
leaving no room in all quarters.
entrepreneurs scraped and cooked fields of clay and ore
into city streets and citadels.
using the means familiar to them and blood for glue
summer is hot as in spain
winter is cold as in france
thunder and lightning purify the air,
in this place for industrious people.
just here no gold or silver with the iron ore
no way to sail to china
no forts or warriors to count.
but we thank you for the brass cross
and the wonderful map that showed so many the way
along the shores
hunters came
killing with stones
and harvesting,
always walking.
settling where fish teemed,
cultivating and weaving and potting
carving and tanning and painting.
andaste were hunting to the north of this backwater
when a lone shallop
rose on the water with the sun.
and slipped quietly past
top of world
is briefly so
sands squeezing into rock
rise up a warrior
towering reflecting every second of suns arc
breathing swift air steering clouds
kneeling down stretched arms bare
collapsing embrace warmth underneath
upturn and plough
bearing the next
warrior bloodbreath swims with us
over the longest mountains
rifts
canyons
and abyssal plains
we sailed
nicotania brings us here.
dark-leaf
yellow flowers
fire cured,
rolled down hills and blown across oceans
to speed a heart with so many beats
