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Thursday, November 7, 2013

NEW MATHMATICS




NEW MATHEMATICS

They are busing everyone
With new ideas to a single
Room.  It is huge.  They are
Assigned a single letter of the 
Alphabet and are told to 
Explain themselves.
I don’t go.  I am able only
To speak in numbers.
Some of them are significant.

I recall there used to be
Noises coming from the sun.
I thought it was music.

A single wave breaks in
The collective imagination.

The room of ideas is opened.
It is filled with the sea.
Language floats upon it
Like garbage.

I am asked to explain this in numbers.
These are visual calculations.
They are made with language.





Tuesday, November 5, 2013

I, FOR ONE CHOOSE RAIN




I, FOR ONE, CHOOSE RAIN

The bones were all disordered and covered
With a fine layer of dust.  We were as 
Surprised as morning that we had found
Anything at all.

We heard a voice crying out.
It sounded like it knew
Our names but we could not 
Be sure.  We could not be sure
Of anything.  A green belt around
A pool of water, both deep and 
Clear with a black bottom

That made the surface dance.
And it was exclaiming something
Very important.

The entire scene was an accident
Of the tide.  A blind wind and a blind
Water forced up to make a statement
That could never find words
But which would stand as firm
As God’s promise to a blind man
That he would see again.  But no one
Ever saw.  It became a clipped 
Presence, never offering comfort.

I, for one, choose rain
As a veil.  I will only see
What it allows; the edge
Of an alley, a man hurrying by
Bearing a large vessel that smells
Like coffee.  He has long
Mustaches and wears a turban.

I had a fever and forget how the thing
Ended.  She asked if there was real
Fire in my heart and I showed her
the pile of sticks I had gathered
To feed it.  She looked deep
Into my eyes.  I could see
Door after door closing, until there
Was only me and her once again.
Bones scattered all over the floor.