To hold magical dominion over another person’s body one need only attain possession of his pared nails or cut-off hair, his spittle or his excrement; even his shadow, his reflection, or his footprints serve the same purpose.
—Ernst Cassirer
i
In epistemology a specific can be tested
because various other specifics constitute
incompletely a complete totality that functions
because various other specifics constitute
incompletely a complete totality that functions
as a test within a totality which can’t be tested.
As a whole. As long as the totality exists,
no specific constitutes a doubt of the totality
itself, and thus, in that totality, no total doubt
no specific constitutes a doubt of the totality
itself, and thus, in that totality, no total doubt
exists, just the blank paper on which you type.
ii
(The black crows on the white sky in a Chinese
print draw attention from the peasants
who are planting rice at the horizon.)
print draw attention from the peasants
who are planting rice at the horizon.)
In this totality, when you spit
into a river, you’ll hit it,
even should you sway about,
into a river, you’ll hit it,
even should you sway about,
like a person standing in a boat.
The accident is avoided, yes, but always
there, that possibility, a ruined life,
there, that possibility, a ruined life,
a gasp, your drowned body
seeking your son’s in the swirling
bottom of darkness.
seeking your son’s in the swirling
bottom of darkness.
iii
“In the long run, we’re all dead,”
said John Maynard Keynes, to counter
a cliché, his mimesis a funeral,
said John Maynard Keynes, to counter
a cliché, his mimesis a funeral,
his funeral a mimesis, as in A=A.
Catching a baseball hit so high it disappears
requires more concentration, more focus,
than death, which requires nothing,
negative space its own logic, says Epicurus.
requires more concentration, more focus,
than death, which requires nothing,
negative space its own logic, says Epicurus.
iv
The bottle of pills whose fatal force
a poet admires, the rattle of dried seeds
a poet admires, the rattle of dried seeds
in a gourd, the shaman’s magical refrain,
his last right, remains the envied premise,
his last right, remains the envied premise,
whose implications, erased by the future,
he fails to perfect, as when writing a poem.
he fails to perfect, as when writing a poem.
In a time capsule, its aniconica, its metonyms,
the invisibility of another world appears,
bit by bit, like the tiny holes in a net.
the invisibility of another world appears,
bit by bit, like the tiny holes in a net.
v
Alone at his office on a weekend night,
still immersed in his trance as he heads
still immersed in his trance as he heads
to the men’s room, unzipping as he walks
down the hall, entering the main office
down the hall, entering the main office
by mistake, peering down at a trash basket,
rather than the toilet, as though reading
rather than the toilet, as though reading
tea leaves in a cup, the poet vaguely
sees his future: that distracted guy groping
sees his future: that distracted guy groping
through darkness in an empty house.
I mean, a full bladder interrupts a thought
whose expression under pressure changes
whose expression under pressure changes
its conclusion without noting what happened
in the silent pulse of its system.
in the silent pulse of its system.
vi
Semiotic snow is falling on houses
and trees and graves all over Ireland
in the sad story by James Joyce.
In their bedroom after a party, the drunk,
sentimental husband sweetly
sentimental husband sweetly
thinks about his wife as she, in a trance,
distracted, remembers instead only her first
lover, now dead, who sang in the snow
in the sad story by James Joyce.
vii
Though often restrained, disaffected, remote,
fatigued by a roué’s logic, in Heloise the ideal
regret, the nun’s lament, that delighted child
at the Plaza Hotel, from a children’s book
to cinema verité, a dazzling wife
offers the smiling focus, the attention,
around which other people gather
fatigued by a roué’s logic, in Heloise the ideal
regret, the nun’s lament, that delighted child
at the Plaza Hotel, from a children’s book
to cinema verité, a dazzling wife
offers the smiling focus, the attention,
around which other people gather
to sing songs and dance. The mist of twilight,
animated by a gin and tonic, enlivens the mood,
like the blinking signifiers on a Christmas tree.
animated by a gin and tonic, enlivens the mood,
like the blinking signifiers on a Christmas tree.
viii
For over twenty years, downstairs
each evening, the besotted poet
in his stuffed chair beside his wife
each evening, the besotted poet
in his stuffed chair beside his wife
in her stuffed chair secretly glances
over at her smiling at the TV. That
she’s so often pleased by everything
that’s decent, profound, and kind,
over at her smiling at the TV. That
she’s so often pleased by everything
that’s decent, profound, and kind,
excludes, of course, the desperate
longings of secret lovers who stare
through the window
at a world covered in snow.
longings of secret lovers who stare
through the window
at a world covered in snow.
ix
The hint of a sad face and the ragged grace
of a skinny dancer, the lifted skirt an odd, courtly,
formal nod in her drawing, her lines like vines
and veins, her hair flashing in the wind,
of a skinny dancer, the lifted skirt an odd, courtly,
formal nod in her drawing, her lines like vines
and veins, her hair flashing in the wind,
she twirls one time in her drawing.
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