Postpoetical

A poem is going to happen

it will

reveal

the hidden structure

of beauty.

it will be
the topic
of conversation.

Film Culture Magazine No. 42, 1966.

No one really knows
worries
from years of
experience,
moving through
elsewhere:
I know.

[ This silence. ]
Envied in its
stillness,
an inscrutable restraint:
contains,
withholds
itself
a conversation, waiting

(a denial)

Originally posted January, 2019

Isaac to God

I learned of love
as a lesson, taught
at the edge of steel:
an experiment
where I was evidence —
of what a man
must do
to uphold a promise.