Iron
Mountain
Also
by
Mark
Frutkin
Poetry
Opening PassagesThe Alchemy of CloudsActs of Light
Fiction
The Growing DawnAtmospheres ApollinaireInvading TibetIn the Time of the Angry QueenThe Lion of VeniceSlow Lightning
Iron Mountain
poems by
Mark Frutkin
Porcepic Books
an imprint of
Beach Holme Publishing
Vancouver
Copyright © 2001 by Mark Frutkin
First Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), Toronto, Ontario.
This book is published by Beach Holme Publishing, 226–2040 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 2G2. www.beachholme.bc.ca. This is a Porcepic Book.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and of the British Columbia Arts Council. The publisher also acknowledges the financial assistance received from the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for its publishing activities.
Editor: Michael Carroll
Production and Design: Jen Hamilton
Cover Art: Landscape by Wu Jingting, from the exhibition Masterpieces of 20th Century Chinese Painting organized by the Canadian Foundation for the Preservation of Chinese Cultural and Historical Treasures and the China International Exhibition Agency. Author Photograph: Sandra Russell
Printed and bound in Canada by Houghton Boston, Saskatoon.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Frutkin, Mark, 1948-
Iron mountain
“A Porcepic book.”
ISBN 0-88878-424-4
I. Title.
PS8561.R84I76 2001 C811’.54 C2001-911072-3
PR9199.3.F776I76 2001
To my good friend, Henry Chapin
Contents
The Journey to Shu—A Chinese Landscape
2. The Emperor Comes to the Wall
5. The Emperor Comes to the River
Wang Meng’s Painting “Reading in Spring Mountains”
A Poem Written on “Hall of Clear Mind” Paper
Disappearance
Brushstroke
Inside Gatineau Park
Chinese Shards
Chinese Exhibition
Seven Buddhas
Fragments of Heaven and Earth
The Scholar Breathes a Sigh of Relief on Failing the Civil Service Exam for the Third Time
Silkworm
Book II—Wilderness
Measuring Dust
A Drunk Addresses the Night Sky
Measuring Dust
Space
Euclid
Cubist Newspaper Driven by the Wind
Ball Bearing
Report on the End of Time
Blue Sky
Creation as Fresco Cycle
Villa-Lobos Lugs His Cello Through the Amazon Jungle
Thunder
Death of a Poet
Baudelaire’s Letter to Ancelle
Double
Creation as Fresco Cycle
Tintoretto
Degas in New Orleans
Boulevard du Temple, Paris, 1839
Recipe for Light and the Elements
Extracting the Bull
Love in Its Seasons
Proud Swimmer
Horses in the Fetal Heart Rate
Ragged Edge
Male and Female