Robert Kelly and Susan Quasha event in Woodstock
Robert Kelly and Susan Quasha present their book, Winter Music, at the Kleinert Gallery in Woodstock, NY, part 1 of 2
HEART THREAD 210 & 211
210.
So pleasure it is, pleasure and
praise
praise
the rain has stopped the colors last
don’t look back it’s only a flower
gaining on you
gaining on you
only a womb anxious to reclaim me
the last night on the island I saw exact
in dark my mother’s face
in dark my mother’s face
let me learn to say this countenance
expressionless veridical completely
there
there
have I lived up to anything she
proposed
proposed
we don’t know what we ask of one
another
another
what we give we hope is what was
wanted
wanted
such gifts are absolute no giver no
receiver
receiver
have I ever given you anything at all?
211.
Solitude, light rain, kindness kiss the
sweat off his back
sweat off his back
let him go the world’s big enough
to be big enough for the smallest
words
words
argent, a tower gules and then he
said
said
from this window she can see anyone
who comes and goes
who comes and goes
but everyone is upside-down
man coughing in the morning breeze
how does she keep all that she sees
from floating away
from floating away
to build a thing and then believe in
it
it
a tower or a testament
Dostoyevsky railed against mere chemistry
the bonds that love us into one
another’s lives.
another’s lives.
HEART THREAD 208 & 209
208.
Forgive that little lude or play between the going on
I lost the knack of not answering
myself
myself
I stand accused of lying down a folly
to the Greeks
to the Greeks
of rising up again at cock-crow and
my people know me not
my people know me not
for I was married to a windmill and a
lake
lake
in summer rain every green a
different color
different color
I set it down meaning to revere it
later
later
but then came Cossack horsemen
through the aching shtetl of my brain
through the aching shtetl of my brain
and who knows now where reverence
went
went
thirteen Jews at a table telling the
joke that is God
joke that is God
who when he was lifted up healed all
the world but not himself
the world but not himself
sunrise from the earth he had no self
to heal.
to heal.
209.
I’m still with Abbot Benedict still
with Malory
with Malory
cannonshot was supposed to be the end
of us
of us
the middle time we called it when we
were young in it
were young in it
now it’s only now and Internet is our
Maimonides
Maimonides
everything lasts everything changes
no one remembers
no one remembers
pleasure is the only gift study how
to please
to please
it lasts as long as Christmas does seventeen
years and come again
years and come again
I want to know the cycle of each
thing
thing
lifespan of the chickadee of Niagara
of me for that matter but nobody
knows
knows
how well we’d live if we knew the
date of our demise
date of our demise
olé! I die today.
HEART THREAD 206 & 207
206.
If a thing can be itself and still go
on
on
that is the raw meat in the rhapsode’s
song
song
people all over pretending to be me
clear as Chesterton in the gloaming
of the evening
of the evening
would I were my father’s favorite
word
word
not twitch so while I’m saying so
I can hardly read the word I write
why I need you
why I need you
there are spirits here antagonists of
air
air
is it prayer that sifts all round us
and we breathe in
and we breathe in
what one word be scents the garden of
Adonis
Adonis
sacrifice means tabu only gods can
have it
have it
what would the world be like if we
were in it.
were in it.
207.
Each one a trick question do you
smoke
smoke
no I only quote
comparisons are bad for the
environment
environment
don’t sit next to me while you’re
quoting
quoting
I never want to hear what wise men
said
said
do you think I want to walk out in
someone else’s clothes
someone else’s clothes
don’t make such a fuss just forget
about it
about it
forgetting is the hardest thing of
all
all
that’s why you fled your island isn’t
it
it
that’s why you sailed up the dark
river where not even the trees knew you
river where not even the trees knew you
that’s why you write down what other
people say
people say
you make them up to talk to you so
somebody remembers.
somebody remembers.
HEART THREAD 204 & 205
204.
Maddening stillness of the summer air
here as if nobody’s there, nobody
cares
cares
I come from wind and you far more
crystal movement of the invisible
emphasis belongs to humankind
gods write the book we put the
italics in
italics in
the trouble is as with Hopkins’
beauty
beauty
it never seems not to be a poem
never a simple language thing that
happens by
happens by
still seizes the breath or chills the
heart
heart
there has to be nobody listening when
I speak
I speak
so that the words break free to all
of you.
of you.
205.
Now of the cicadas from their long
sleep
sleep
awoke and bred and did and sang and
now to bed again
now to bed again
what are we to some glorious animal
eloquent in hyperspace our spit their
silver
silver
because we make much of things
art is Latin for the way of making
the way of making is so our only way
childish wits suppose we too were
made
made
no god ever had the art of us
we came out of the sea and from the
ground
ground
we mated in bold daylight and we did
and we do.
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