‘There is a cruel messianic...’
There is a cruel, messianic,
dim, tribal intransigence
that gains you
nothing
There’s a bull-headed childish
baby-tantrum
that can unleash untold consequences
I am
appalled by the darkening of the sky
I watch my love
It is
always my love that I
watch.
‘The sheer mass of available information..’
The sheer mass of
available information
And for whom do you compose?
I await entry into
the extension chamber My
Lord
I am keenly disturbed by the
altercation
Your
Excellency and I will endeavor to
Root out the
perpetrators
And see that it never happens again
The evening
jukebox sun goes down so (quietly so)
What did you select? An evening
meal?
Nah! A quiet room? Nah! An ever-expanding
Universe..
‘Sleep fitful wake grumpy...’
Sleep fitful wake grumpy go
down stairs in dark still morning fill kettle tin can
cold water
make
tea light fire kindling examine
the early morning light, put on the
radio (it is quarter to seven
you are listening to the farming
report)
blessed sleep I know not what you wear or who you are
I
imagine you in something extraordinary
slept last night again a baby
what do I know?
(what is my plot?)
all curled up like that
(on a
blanket)
‘Peter Stupid...’
Peter Stupid
Orphan
Master
Famous For His Tulip
Gardens
Where Now On
Broadway
The Equitable Building
Stands
‘If we had our copper vessel...’
‘My soul, what’s lighter than a feather? Wind
Than wind? The fire. And what than fire? The mind
What’s lighter than the mind? A thought. Than thought?
This bubble world. What than this bubble? Naught.’
(Frances Quarles — epigram to ‘A Pair of Balances’)
If we had our copper vessel
perfectly round
and well closed
we should have fixed
Mercury with the
Moon
—
but we didn’t!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * *
‘Approximately 75 per
cent
of the waking consciousness
is
consumed
with the monitoring of
physical
functions’
— ‘either wanting
it’
or already in possession of it
—
or rather, both’
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * *
It is when the extreme point of
restlessness
is reached
that grace comes at a terrific
speed.
The Sentence
It is as though he were telling us
that this small space
contains the pattern for
all eternity
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