Three Fragments
I.
I will remove my face and under my face there will be another face just like the first face.
I will remove my clothes and under my clothes there will be a reservoir of light without sound and sound without light.
I will touch this spot here and a perfect octave will ring perpetually like a hardened plaster mask of death,
like the death mask of Beethoven, who must have been shaking his fist at the sky.
In an orchard, you will find a tree, and on that tree you will find a fruit, and in that fruit you will find a seed, and in that seed you will find a microscopic rendering of Moses at the top of Mount Nebo but you will never see it because instead you will plant the seed and it will grow into a tree and on that tree will be a fruit and in that fruit will be a seed and in that seed you will find a microscopic rendering of Moses at the top of Mount Nebo. This is how promises work.
II.
My father told me what to do if you are lost in a cornfield—
follow a row till you get to a road—and
if you get a flat on the highway—drive
slowly to the nearest exit, doesn’t matter
if you ruin your rim, never change a tire
by the side of the road. Also, when a man and a woman
love each other they hug each other in a very special way.
III.
I am as alone as the sun.
I am filling spaces with space.
I am holding the scarecrow prophets at bay.
On the self-shaped skin
the graceful beginning, the graceful end,
a warm envelope of ecstatic resignation.
I will remove my face and under my face there will be another face just like the first face.
I will remove my clothes and under my clothes there will be a reservoir of light without sound and sound without light.
I will touch this spot here and a perfect octave will ring perpetually like a hardened plaster mask of death,
like the death mask of Beethoven, who must have been shaking his fist at the sky.
In an orchard, you will find a tree, and on that tree you will find a fruit, and in that fruit you will find a seed, and in that seed you will find a microscopic rendering of Moses at the top of Mount Nebo but you will never see it because instead you will plant the seed and it will grow into a tree and on that tree will be a fruit and in that fruit will be a seed and in that seed you will find a microscopic rendering of Moses at the top of Mount Nebo. This is how promises work.
II.
My father told me what to do if you are lost in a cornfield—
follow a row till you get to a road—and
if you get a flat on the highway—drive
slowly to the nearest exit, doesn’t matter
if you ruin your rim, never change a tire
by the side of the road. Also, when a man and a woman
love each other they hug each other in a very special way.
III.
I am as alone as the sun.
I am filling spaces with space.
I am holding the scarecrow prophets at bay.
On the self-shaped skin
the graceful beginning, the graceful end,
a warm envelope of ecstatic resignation.