Monday, November 17, 2014

HEART THREAD Parts Fifty-Five and Fifty-Six

55.

Falstaff rises from the water subtly changed
his laundry basket floats away downstream
here he’s as wet brand-new as Moses
it takes more than shame to wash old lusts away
rush of the wild ox through fields of barley
the maiden thrilled at last consents
to be cast into the contingency of another’s desire
these are what we forget as we walk mild in the street
caught in the meshes of other people’s fantasies
read Coleridge chapter XIII how little we dare to create
how much we brilliantly remember
use the typewriter at the bottom of the well.

56.

There is no mainland it’s all Ocean River
coarse voices of drowned fishermen
finally learn to whisper as the waves kiss shore
hush and hiss and come between our skin
in a child’s voice we hear last echoes of someone else
lost echo Hart Crane to be a poet in America how strange
take the rhymes away and then you’ll see
language is continuous I’m giving you
soft white as new parchment and a bird at my foot
it’s starting again a raft of meaning
floats up and down your spine this trembling reed
as if you were married to a baker and slept in his bread.