Truth Walks the Plank, San Francisco, 1890-1900
At the edge of the packed ferry boat, water
and wind rush to erase her—
until out from veils of fog, land comes fast:
clock-eyed ferry terminal, belted by boats
and behind sharpen the tiered rise of office
buildings, restaurants, homes: a city blinking
awake. It’s a decade before the earth
quake, before the fires satisfied their
ravenous appetites on anything
that tried to be a fact. When the boat docks,
Charmian walks the shaky plank between
then and now. Ash for water.
Lost papers fluttering. Hungry gulls calling—
and wind rush to erase her—
until out from veils of fog, land comes fast:
clock-eyed ferry terminal, belted by boats
and behind sharpen the tiered rise of office
buildings, restaurants, homes: a city blinking
awake. It’s a decade before the earth
quake, before the fires satisfied their
ravenous appetites on anything
that tried to be a fact. When the boat docks,
Charmian walks the shaky plank between
then and now. Ash for water.
Lost papers fluttering. Hungry gulls calling—
Iris Jamahl Dunkle was the 2017-2018 Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, California. Her newest poetry collection West : Fire : Archive will be published by Mountain/ West Poetry Series in 2021. Her other poetry collections include Interrupted Geographies (Trio House Press, 2017) Gold Passage (Trio House Press, 2013) and There's a Ghost in this Machine of Air (Word Tech, 2015). Her biography on Charmian London, Jack London's wife, will be published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2020. Dunkle teaches at Napa Valley College and is the Poetry Director of the Napa Valley Writers'Conference.
Art: Molly Dunham