
- Is this the verse
- that unfolds me? Must I
- listen to its secrets; must I
- let it watch me?
- Is this the verse that is overworked,
- the one that is read and
- read over
- and left blistered
- like the foot that no shoe will fit
- painlessly?
- Is this the verse in which
- I reveal too much, inadvertently?
- Is this the verse
- in which I recognise myself?
- And then recognise myself
- shaping up
- my recognised self?
- Is this the verse
- in whose shape I find
- an unfamiliar memory? Are its
- edges a liability? Are they
- those that cut my fingers
- as I hold them
- to the light, or do they
- dissolve into the body, consecrated?
- Is this the line that will
- kiss my bleeding hands?
- Is this the verse that I cannot write,
- restlessly reappearing in
- anything but words,
- cold from my neglect?
Is this the verse in which I break a promise?
Categories: Resident Poet