For Bill Carpenter
To
Niedecker page thirty-seven I saw
Will
I & so it went but first I pressd six
say
seven rows of twaddle 'til my needle
I
took & unknitted what I'd lazily made,
@ which point then I thoght what will I,
or
will I indeed, the choice as it always
was was ours Williams' Immortal Poems
uncoverd,
dogeard, Duncan underneath
where
late we sat & wonderd on designs
of
floortiles, drywall, wainscot invisaged
bugeyes
horns torsos tails & wings
w/
pressure on the ball of the foot
&
weight of the body seated tilted gravid
birthing
intellection silent quotidian
fanatical
sawings of crickets visions gatherd
scattershot,
willy-nilly as over a field
a
flight of clumsy birds a tumble under
wrackd
Shelleyan cloud or sprayd etcetera
thatchwork
in the welkin, strings ejaculated
crosswise,
could be poison, 'pending
on
whom you trust and who has got the facks
I
had at the knee Chinese in English, quatrains
of
loss after loss a reconciliation
w
cosmos not found in Western art a peace
w
death, an order wrung from evolution
blind
w/o purpose, perfect rectangled squared
calm
& understanding, and so I thought
this
is what I will: I will take to my feet
and
ramble over the dry & empty hills
and
you come too I sd to Reynolds, who
was
taciturn and squinted in the sunlight
right
hip loaded neath a striped duster
for
he had seen Gary Cooper & his girl
a
bandit with a torch, a field of corn
the
fear in her eye set flame in his heart
&
so remained inside while I went forth
wherever
my foot struck earth a path, a way
not
out but in, for we have sd in prayer
the
fireworks of God & His majestic colors
splashd
on the eyelids forcibly shut against
mt
ranges snowpeakd, rolling oceans O
Lactantius,
thou teller of One, not among
many,
nay, there are no gods but God
not
gods gods do not exist gods are men
there
is only One God and that is God
&
no you will not remove Him nor can you
cast
Him out Who made thee nor can you
remove
Him, Whose Breath is thy breath &
thy
body & being is Him & that pounding
heart's
blood, life's blood, quick, hot w/ good
shot
through & all throughout for all & for 1
Who
is God, thy Father, thy Maker, thee
cherishd precious child born awakened,
live,
for the Breath you breathe the spirit in
spirited
speed toward Him to adore Him.
2.26.2014
