casemate off-season

brass key atop folded papers with hand-
written notes and scratchings—some
seriously crossed out or loopy loop ink

obscured—key to the end of summer (call
it the start of another public school
and college of craft and design year)

casemate artist residency key not yet
returned by one of the last week's
artists by this second week of december

[and it wasn't me far far gone due
east across southern new brunswick
bay of fundy nova scotia atlantic

ocean france italy dinaric alps and
reka dunav in senta vojvodina serbia;
my custody of that key ended when

my residency ended in july] so this
action today is giving a friend closure
on another piece of their unfinished . . .

silk frame left in the casemate
frame pieces borrowed from claire
with small bulldogs and elastics

stretched silk hand-painted dyes but
not set—a household of gonfalons
in small test sketches before the real

buried at the back of the casemate
behind fence sections craft college
pottery worktables and raku kilns

outside the closed streetside window
at my back one of too many squirrels
chattering telling me off like security

province-contracted commissionaire
with military experience somewhere
now checking doors after work hours

shirt: long-sleeve burgandy knit
loc: Fredcampinn
temp: -2 C
sound: "rush" hour traffic & Grateful Dead Europe '72, disc 1