WORD GAMES I.M. ELAINE FEINSTEIN
Feinstein died in September 2019. Her own poems and her translations from modern Russians have been a lesson in form, a pleasure and an inspiration. These word games use the first stanza of her ‘A Letter from La Jolla’: On a balcony in California/ being surprised by February/ which is the sweet season here, when/ blue-scaled grunion dance.
*
Blue-scaled grunion dance
on a balcony in California
every February comes the chance
for the surprised grunion dance
sweetly seasoned to enhance
California flora California fauna
technicolor grunion dance
on a balcony in California
/
*
Blue-scaled grunion dance
on a balcony in California
skin to skin, fin to pinion
until the glittering sky is torn
being surprised by February
on a balcony in California
weeks and days are supernumerary
old and sour disappear
being surprised by February
Barking seals approach the pier—
which is the sweetest season here?
When old and sour disappear
where returning waves wash sea-paths clear
as though there really was—romance
(which is the sweetest season here)
when blue-scaled grunion dance
on a balcony in California
*in the blue season
which—being February—
is a California dance
sweet
when surprised . . .
a grunion
scaled
the balcony
on the off chance
you would
pass
by
here
Glint Literary Journal 