Salvage

 

 

Salvage

 

Daily the cortege of crumpled

defunct cars

goes by by the lasagna-

layered flatbed

truckload: hardtop

 

reverting to tar smudge,

wax shine antiqued to crusted

winepress smear,

windshield battered to

intact ice-tint, a rarity

 

fresh from the Pleistocene.

I like it; privately

I find esthetic

satisfaction in these

ceremonial removals

 

from the category of 

received ideas

to regions where pigeons'

svelte smoke-velvet

limousines, taxiing

 

in whirligigs, reclaim

a parking lot,

and the bag-laden

hermit woman, disencumbered

of a greater incubus,

 

the crush of unexamined

attitudes, stoutly

follows her routine,

mining the mountainsides

of our daily refuse

 

for artifacts: subversive

re-establishing

with each arcane

trash-basket dig

the pleasures of the ruined.  

 

Amy Clampitt 

 

This is an example of how words can change how you see.

"Subversive re-establishing" - exactly!

Change the way you describe something, and you change the way people see it.

Clampitt is brilliant.

"The pleasures of the ruined." 

What a phrase!