147.
Ariel pretends Prospero’s his master
but no one rules that bright air eye
God’s Lion strange name for a little
bird
master of the island, human books
flutter useless
no magic and no science stilts his
liberty
to go and come and speak and ply his
appetite
humans rough or gentle are his toys
he teases them by seeming to comply
catch wind in a handkerchief palace
in your pocket
o I tried to rule those wizard wings
one time
all I got was flutter and flap all my
words dispersed
yet he brought me back my drownèd
book again.
148.
Eden syndrome the better the place
the more fear you’ll be cast out
fundamental neurosis of the
ecological moment
paranoid planet ruled by demons still
still we have to do something else
about it
something abstract something works
footsteps down some distant wooden
stairs
who comes to thrust us out we’re not
yet in
selves run out of self a damp fog
rolls in
bird feathers and no rain a song
instead
meteoric solitude hurrying through
emptiness
to be with you before you get to be
inconceivable meaningless such
energies so-called stars.
