Weathers, Vistas, Houses, Dust is Joseph Hutchison’s first chapbook collection.

Title: Weathers, Vistas, Houses, Dust
Publication Date: 1980
Length: 16 pages
Binding: Saddlestitched
OUT OF PRINT

From the book:

HOMING

for my mother

I believe I remember my first

house, deep in your body, alive

with music. White music breaking

ion waves on the cliffs of couches,

foam hands caressing a shore of

blue carpet. Adrift in a boat

made of listening, my sleep

was whole as milk in an udder.

But a doctor divided us, beached

me (deaf) in a body, far inland.

I’ve needed 20 years to relearn

your intricate fugue, to believe

in the ancient turntable wheeling

in its secret room. Mother, your

spirit’s needle quivers in its

spiral groove, like moonlight

threading the troughs of waves.

Yet I know that your bright tide

is a maelstrom too, devouring

your body’s walls. At first, it

frightened me, loud as the angry

knock Beethoven heard. But now,

the longer I listen, I find

the music growing more lovely,

more clear, as it homes on

into its silent center.