August Kleinzahler
The oleander on Longitude Lane
flares among the languors and fevers of June below the south-facing piazzas
the sea breeze find
or don't quite find
along the corridors of ivy covered brick Carolina gray brick and wrought iron
that wind away inland from the Battery
History just sits out there, a kind of weather in the harbor and beyond
on the plantations and through the low country with its bogs and herons
its forgotten skirmishes
And the manners in town so antique, so elegant an underwater Kabuki in summer dresses
The old families and Huguenot names
The long siege and storied cannonades
Turkey buzzards over the market
water rats under the pantry
The precious settee and the wild, wild daughters
