Robert Manaster

Cost of Development


$659.30, $44.46, $700.00+…………………………………RFP ads.
$324…………………………………………………………City staff trip.

       Bones, clipped and tabbed,
       Cardboard constructed, hung
       For a middle-school science fair —
              Bones of a project
       Put into a box
       Labeled for later use:
       How the Body Works.

$80,000………………………………………………………Per acre.
$14,474,357……………………………………………….Construction.

       Set near majestic
              Columns,
       Bones of the Capitol:
              The white-
       Marbled, chiseled Lincoln
              Gravely
       Implores a nation to be
              Moved.

$375,000+……………………………………………………Property tax.
$160,000…………………………………………………..Management.
$600,000…………………………………………………..Total Op Expense.
$285,000…………………………………………………..Sales tax from retail center.

              Bones of crop abundance!

$40,000………………………………………………….…Developer contribution.
$500.00 and $250.00………………………………….….Move for single-wide.
$900.00 and $600.00……………………………………..Move for double-wide.
$70,000……………………………………………………..No-int loan to landowner.
$500.00…………………………………………………….Per household. 
$5750………………………………………………………Per mobile home
                                                                                              (< 624 sq ft)
$9.21……………………………………………….………Per additional sq ft
$.50…………………………………………………………Per sq ft for 2nd  bathroom
                                                                                              (or more).

       Bone plates of a thought
              Wild for the scent of peeled grapes.

$70,000…………………………………………………….City property contribution.
$150,000…………………………………………………..Landscaping & bike path.
$55,000…………………………………………………….Public improvement.

       Bones of the absent tail —
              A figment of balance.

$16000……………………………………………..………Bad credit history fund.
36 months…………………………………………………..Rent differential pymts.
$4500……………………………………………………….Extra-expense appeal:
       $100………………………………………………..……   Shed delivery cost,
       $64.20…………………………………………………….    Telephone installation,
       $24.79……………………………………………………   Cable rehookup,
       $3000.00+………………………………………………..     To move.  (Denied.)

       Bones of the hand
       And their minutiae of movement
              To hold on.

$326,416………………………………………..………….Relocation benefits.
($107,416)…………………………………………………Shortfall.
$240,000……………………………………………………Recapture upon closing:
       $70,000…………………..………………………..……   Repayment of city loan,
       $41,000……………..…………………………………..   Developer contribution,
       $130,000………..…………………………………..….   Site development.
$85,000 of $70,000 ($15,000 over)………………………….City loan to owner.
$250,000……………………………………………………..Property tax estimate.

       Bone memory
       In blood,
              The clear
       Cell fragments
                     From inner bone.


 


About $450,000 total.

Bones of the imagination
       Are scattered like a pair of dice…………………………………………………


Robert Manaster’s poetry and co-translations have appeared in numerous journals including RosebudThe Virginia Quarterly ReviewImageHayden’s Ferry Review, and Spillway. His co-translation of Ronny Someck’s The Milk Underground (White Pine Press, 2015) was awarded the Cliff Becker Book Prize in Translation. He’s also published reviews in such publications as RattleJacket2, and Rain Taxi.