from What We Talk About When We Talk About Paths: A Narrative in Captions

 

 

                                   Path Today: Fresh Path: Another Kind of Path: Current Path:

High School Path: Path of Discernment: Public Speaking Path: Path to The Podium: Monday

Morning Path: Path of Least Resistance: Back At It: Path: Sometimes a Path is a Maze:

Another Kind of Path is Writing: Water Finds a Path: Self-Guided Path: Roberta Flack

as Also a Path: Sometimes it’s a Path Across Clouds: Self-Guided Path Through Water:

A Present Path Reflects the Future and the Past: Some Paths Are Hard: Swimming is Sex

and Death and Thinking and These Things Mean the World to Me So Don’t Let My Heart

Be Brief Let Me Stick with This Vision: Path Of Grass: Water with its Perfect Memory Holds

My Nostalgia Without Weight: Sometimes Paths Cross: Path To Nowhere: Some Days I Can’t

Find a Friggin’ Path: Path of My (Resis)(Exis)tence: I-Can-Walk-and-Chew-Gum-at-The-Same-

Time-Just-Saying Path: Fireproof Path: Path of My Persistence: Hotel/Motel: New Hotel: Death

Star: Path to My Panel: Path Home: Find a Path That Feeds You: Some Sun:  Rothko is a Path:

The S.O.S. Band/ That’s All: Path Of Self-Preservation: Apparatus is a Path: Path To CVS:

Where My Coupons at?: Where Harmony Meets Pleasant/ For Real: Snack Path: Not

Clementines But Also Good: Red Path: Sym(path)y: Tele(path)y: Or Narcolepsy: Em(path)y:

Path(os): Hydro(path)y is a Thing: Cake: Not an Obvious Path: Blue Blue Electric Blue That’s

the Color of My Room: Two Cakes: Cake is Where You Find it: Cake upon Cake upon Cake:

Cake: Up: Close Cake: Up Closer: Icing isn’t Everything: Icing up Close: Most American Cake:

Choices: Edge of The Cosmos: Cake: Climb Every Mountain: Cake: Space Between Cakes:

Math: Eye(s) Open: Heart Open: Eye(dness) is a Word: Conv(eye)r: Bring Spring: April

Showers Bring Grey Flowers: Say it with Flowers or Let’s Not Ruin This with Words:

I Swear by All Flowers That Flowers are Work Sometimes Fast & Beautiful: Handwork:

The Rough Heart of a Grassy-Eyed Rose Kindred Spirit to the Tree: Crush: Crush(ed):

Crush(able): Cold Crush: (Orange) Crush of Nostalgia: Crush Groove: Crush(ingly);

What Justifies My Hunger for Other Ways of Life Hasn’t America Been Mostly Good

(Enough) to Me Like the ’80s Like Boyfriends Like Luck: C(rush) or Deep Sleep(er):

Crush: The One Living Poem I’ve Made: Crush: As When Two Shores Refuse to Touch

as When Lapsed Love is as Much Distance as Diffidence: Lust(erous) Crush: Luster’s

Where You Find it: (Lack)Luster or (Low)Light or There’s Something Out There: Rough

Luster: Capacious Path: Arboreous Path: Municipal Arboretum: Speed of Trees: Trees

All: Back at It: Rain, Rain Go Away: Breakfast of Champions: Window or My Desk

is a Mess: Back at it: Sunday Sunday: Track Jacket with Flat Tire Plus Grimace:

A Pastoral: Evelyn “Champagne” King/ That’s All: Path of Light or Friendly Poltergeist:

Need a New Tire: Tired of Driving: Plus Construction: An Anti-Pastoral: No Cake:

Road To Galilee: Still Driving on a Spare:

 

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author photo: Mike Salerno

Tina Cane serves as poet laureate of Rhode Island and is the founder/director of Writers-in-the-Schools, Rhode Island. She is the author of Once More with Feeling , Body of Work , and Dear Elena: Letters for Elena Ferrante. Cane is also the creator/ curator of the distance reading series, Poetry is Bread, the podcast Poetry Dose, and is a 2020 poet laureate fellow with the Academy of American Poets.

This is Tina Cane’s second appearance in TLR. You can read more of her work here.

 

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