Easter Poem
I
Analogies decide nothing–
The grasses soften,
One becomes ill at ease
Over a “great work,” or at least
Some projected gathering
Of the experience. The
Everything, the
Sinful fingernail. This town
Has so many blue avenues
Of which I know nothing.
The instinct towards fiction
Overwhelms, or rather,
Sits angrily, and these pants
Shred up under the heels.
Symbolic penalties. Several
Everythings. The monument looks
To have been struck by lightning,
Or at least some great force, and
The cemetery’s avenues do
Have names, so the tombs
Can be spoken of with addresses
As if they were homes. Likewise,
When arranged as
“Raw Materials,” rather than as
A mass of noise and light,
This hill will come to have
“Marrow,” have "vesicles,"
Possibly “nexus,” other
Such words. And how completely
Appetizing. The likewise
Which makes living possible.
“Analogies decide nothing,
But they make one feel at home.”
Naturally, it is also
Necessary, or at least
Practical, for the poet to be able
To recognize some flowers
By their real names. “Crocus” is
A good one. Lilacs spill a scent
That is positively mystic,
As we know, but the word is
Rather tired. “Syringa,” maybe.
We’ll get there. Recently, or
At least now, is for the
Sinful fingernail, the monument
Which shreds up under
The address, having been struck
By an instinct towards the more
Encompassing vowel. The
Nothing and the Everything
Are erogenous zones.
Before filling the tank for
Providence, we make ourselves
Susceptible to distribution
By “practices,” by “the old
Adage”; we make our question
The same question
In every instance, regardless
Of each noun and predicate
Being swapped out
Indefinitely. For instance:
The seventh drop fell at
Approximately 4:45 p.m. on
3 July 1988. Occasionally prompted
To make all things appear,
His biography caressed him through
The glass with rubber gloves.
Just fuck me already. Just fuck
Me already. In these conditions,
Which are conditions, yes, of
Springtime and wartime,
One loses the final say in
Whether their own words were
“Literal” or “metaphoric”—
They become significant
Only at gaps and intersections,
Like reading a palm.
II
Among the dead at five
All one can do is establish
A practice— yuck— all one
Can do with the mass of
Reality is establish— yow—
A practice within it—
Oval drive— freighters—
All one can burrow is into
It— the only way to burrow being
Into it— with the practice of it
I mean PATRICIA K— HERMAN
JR. — All one can reject
Is the verse of it—
Or at least rhythms— if
Not necessarily the terms them
BONESTEEL
selves— Most jeans being now
Frayed in this way— most streets
Without sidewalks having
No yellow lines— or
Lines at all— ouch—
To be burrowed
Into in a way that
Was “Informational”
The world seemed rather
“Humorless” to him having been
Honked at and witnessing
The man pulling his dog
Saying “c'mere” having
Sinful fingernail at two
In the morning driving
Back up
“MARROW”
“VESICLES”
John street
Just after
Oh let me
Call you back the ambulances just
flew by and I mean really
screaming