Poetry

Mahler

It is Because I am Obsessed with This thing. . . . It overtakes me. Do I conjure it Out of space, Scratching its Sound on paper In the tilted gazebo? I only know I Do hear it — there. I am brushed by The precise flit Of its shadow, Enervated by Each visitation. Like…

Poem on a Surface

We trace ourselves in order to omit the tracery tense unfolding a flesh offering a limit We travel the ellipse of ourselves each inhabited One inside the other limitless warm surface & not wanting knowing the limit tracing the arrival We come together One orb One & One We fold together unfolding rhythm of our…

Upon Going Into Prison

Warders in familiar uniforms, peaked caps, and badges– greying family men–tag and number these articles out of the prisoner’s hand-sewn, pig-skin bag: Two sweaters of hanks and hanks of hair, hand- spun and knitted–blonde into black, red into brown– völkische patterns; three pearl-grey chemises with tongue-like ties; one austere silk foulard from Paris, the couturier…

In the Endless

After Verlaine In the endless anxieties of the plain the uncertain snow shines as sand. Of copper is the sky, without one light. One would believe any moon, seen living and dying. As some storm clouds hover infirm and grey, the oaks of close-lying forests are among the vapours. Of copper is the sky, without…

Monday, Monday

In the country perhaps some rooster or another crows on Monday morning (the 15th? the 22nd?) This particular sound reminds me that I haven’t changed my pants since Monday Between the rising and the setting of the sun I’ve forgotten my old friends. translated by George Kimball