Mister Lipsandygo
and the Soundsland Man
went walking tree all across
the plain-eyed plain, where,
dreamer and dreamed find,
anytime can be a long time
sleeping in the thorntree shade.

 

–excerpt, “Gone Walking Tree”

The turmoil and richness of his surroundings impacted Danny Rosen’s sensibility deeply during five years running an astronomical observatory in the Namib Desert. The poems of Ghosts of Giant Kudu infuse the landscape and music of Africa into Rosen’s ultimately American, always quirky collection.

Oh, Man!

 

I, modern man,
left the forest for the plain,
but I miss the trees,
and feel hugely estranged.