Friday, May 28, 2010
Twelve Lunar Meditations
TWELVE LUNAR MEDITATIONS
1
a knife falls
in the water
grows a second knife
& over each knife
looms an eye –
my second eye trails off
2
life has spirit, death
has only chalk
with chalk a word
is written
but not by you
3
end it here,
the man says
as he puts his thumb on it
the thumb is raw,
behold,
the man is even now alone
4
easy sleep
easy rest
easier to be an animal
than not
5
DIRECTIONS
rub this side of the chain
against that side
how many years before
the chain rubs out?
6
after Nerval
like inserting two pictures
in a single viewer
(he writes)
then moving my hand as if
sketching my signature
7
death has a taste
after we hear of it
a man’s taste
or a woman’s
a child’s taste
or a cat’s
8
someone slips below the sod
the grass grows over him
as if someone has died,
but no one stops to ask
9
A FUTURE POETICS
with inspiration vanished
respiration took its place
is expiration next?
10
there is something
we like to hide
if not our tongues,
our eyes
if not our immortal souls,
our daily vices
11
A MESSAGE FOR THE CRUEL MAJORITY
they will punish the poor for being poor
they will punish the dead for having died
12
the spirit of the dead
means nothing
Jerome Rothenberg
Posted over on Poems & Poetics
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment