hands in mint and rose.
May be, you are like me: all pose.
May be, you are cutting each word harder
And harder, to listen. I'mall watchandwile,waitingtobe Called. Lordy-lordy-lord,
When I asked to be left alone, I didn't mean, like, now, like, this. Full-deep:
All solace and solecism. Un-sail-able. Un-vale-able. To spring, to light, to sleep.
Spring is cheap, but clean of sky. Long after she used to
meet him on the sly. He didn't say much, because to
speak you need a voice, need lead. Among the dead there were
such fresh ghosts, they were still breathing. Through their
mouths. Time, time, to adjust to an other. An ether
O so—No—too sweet. Intox-icated with permeability. 'Tis nox-
ious, to eat evanescence. However steadily, however slowly.
They stemmed into heady blows.
They missed
the stain. Of blue berries and argument. They missed
their lips. The yew and the thorns. They missed.
Their flaws.
O, to be stung by an errant bee. O, to sting.
O, to see you again. Covered in spring.
march licked me with all his brown lack
as if
someone just handed me
a bouquet
made solely,
entirely,
of the absence
of the word:
Abundance.
Thereby hand-
ing me
everything!
O, to Lack!
I too am made
(mostwholey) of that.
Love brought
me a handful
of pussy willows to place
near my face. A sick head
and a sick heart ought be licked
back to health, said said Love,
all stealth. All stick and cue. Love,
didn't I tell you, not to foot
over threshold of mine? But
Love was over, Love was under.
Love was in. Love was wrought.
Love swept the house, then, Love was
done. Aye, There's the rub!
The phoenix and the turtle
dove? Ha! Love, Love is
nought.
'Tis true,
we are all made of root
And rue; head-down and head-long, trailing
Like the arbutus.
O great Arbiter! I keep
A terrible secret. The staves acre. And the back
Ache. And the Longing,
long and low.
Old, hard news, Desire. That prick! And that
Sting. All but made. All the promises
I intend. To make. To keep. To bend.
So-long So-sweet! I will
Miss you! Doubt not, or do. I was true. I am
Plaintive, but pliant. Think-me-not
Heart-less or heed-less. None the less: I will.
Ease back. Once again. Yes. Exactly. As does
Spring.
So far, have managed, Not
Much. So far, a few fractures, a few factions, a Few
Friends. So far, a husband, a husbandry, Nothing
Too complex, so far, followed the Simple
Instructions. Read them twice. So far, memorized three Moments,
Buried a couple deaths, those turning faces. So far, two or Three
Sonnets. So far, some berrigan and Some
Keats. So far, a scanty list. So far, a dark wood. So far, Anti-
Thesis and then, maybe, a little thesis. So far, a small Number
Of emily's letters. So far, tim not dead. So far, Matt
Not dead. So far, jim. So far, Love
And love, not so far. Not so love. So far, no-Hope.
So far, all face. So far, scrapped and scraped, but Not
With grace. So far, not Very.
the lais of lost long days . . .
Today
