The Sand Hill Review http://www.sandhillreview.org 2005

Clamdigger

by Willem de Kooning

This clamdigger rides

his bike to the edge of the sea

almost every day

humming a once forgotten tune

Een liedje over de vrouw van de zee

A man of clay who stands

like a castaway sailor

on a distant isle

gazing into the mist and brine

Here he digs and digs

and comes

to an imperfect knowledge

like his misshapen body

and the uncertain path

which led him to

the very ambiguity

of his life on this foreign

shore that he tried

so hard to make his own

This immigrant shown

every corner of the land

the late night betrayals

and daylight madness

the unambiguous

smiles of several women

See what you have done

You made me love you

The friendship and

jealousies of the men he met

the charm of cold water flats

and barroom chatter

the pounding

and scraping on streets

and sidewalks

the way he brought

his paintings to life

That constant reaching

into wet sand

the way he entered

and grasped

the lives of so many

Here on this spit of land

against the sky

at the dawn

of creation

again and again

an opening of

a door to the sea

of a life writ on water

In studious and frenzied repair

of celebration and menace

in this new world

he takes a stand of

old world glory

and despair

Robert Perry