Rondeaux

Abstract

Rondeaux Daniel Groves (bio) Le temps a laissé son manteau. . .. —Charles d’Orleans Rajon . . . turned in his best season . . . erratic as ever. —the Guardian, 2012 Rondo’s tour . . . will continue in New Orleans. . .. —Sports Illustrated, 2017 “Time” called; a faked-out-of-its-jock,short-winded, sweat-drenched man-to-man(“the Garden crowd erupting . . . ”) ranfor cover—high-tops freeze, limbs knock, an orange blur, as per—à chaquefois—a playground-cool game plan,a little French Lick—faire le Jacques—swift, passing-fair legerdemain— a poly—allez, hop! (tick-tock)—optic, au courant catch-as-catch-can,eludes the last wide-stretched wingspan,arrives, to rise above the mere debac-le—dunked-on, faked-out-of-its-jock. Guiding the cutter toward the block—amused, precise (à la Rodin,or Gaudier?), l’artisanendures, delivers up the rock . . . Half-baked, beside the Common flock,the quickening Charles, the die-hard fan-taisie concocts combines: Ainge, Doc,cagey, to stretch the Truth in clan- destined rendezvous—langue d’octo Louisville—the courts, the coups, the van-ishing point one, roundabout, beganto make (“alight, O shade of Auerbach”)—the world is faked out of, ad hoc. [End Page 57] Daniel Groves daniel groves is the author of The Lost Boys, published by the University of Georgia Press in 2010, poems from which first appeared in Paris Review, Yale Review, Poetry, and elsewhere. He also coedited, with Greg Williamson, Jiggery Pokery Semicentennial, released by Waywiser Press in 2018, a compendium of double dactyls featuring contributions from more than forty contemporary poets and a cover designed by Milton Glaser. Copyright © 2018 University of North Carolina Wilmington