Ode 16

Painting by Susan Hudson


ODE 16

Then I came to know it all
fernbake & morning glory tilted
trumpet to heaven, lust hibiscus
battering the wall. The green all
to know with my red mind full
of the rhapsodies of language bare or vested
the mere reach of this rich as-is.
Reality is escape. The rusty junk
of fervent highways soothe the mind
into self-consoling slumber. The real
real is intimate, hard to find,
locked & released at once in thought,
beyond the touch of poignant imagery.
Old men have syntactic minds.
Here winter is stored against delusive
solstice calms & small pink flowers.
Against deceitful resurrections.
This time does not come again.


Robert Kelly

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