ROBERT
KELLY

The Chairman of the Bored
turns on the telly,
watches things hurtle against
each other for the sake
of a thing like a giant almond nut
they call a ball. Switch.
A high-pitched baritone
screams the news in French.
Click. Water shortage in…
he changes channels before
he can learn where, thirsty
already, Now here’s something:
Scottish detective on the trail of
he’s seen this one already.
Switch off. The big black screen
is dark, more interesting
than what it had once displayed.
It’s like a mirror, it shows
a dim vista of the room he’s in,
he sees himself in his chair,
things getting interesting at last.

14.X.22

If I waited any longer
it would be now
and then where would you be?
Out there in Elsewhere
among the arrogant taxis,
lone pedestrian or hurrying
along with goofy friends.
And here I bide, slowly
relaxing the strings of my lute.

13.X.22

When a circle opens its eye
the world falls in.
Can’t help it, that’s the way
light goes, always eager
for some frame or vessel,
grail or amphora or pool.
Light wades in. The circle
suddenly bright, its eye
shines back and thanks the light,
gladsome sensual reciprocals.

13 October 2022

The yellow lingers
longer in this season,
sunlight lathered leaves
even on cloudy days.
O holy Torah of the visible,
how much you teach us
even when we close our eyes.

12 October 2022

Whenever the other–
like an amphora carved
out of purple marble,
small, for oil, or rest
scattered pearls in,
time is like that, time
is the kiss of the other
given freely, answer it
we must, you make me me.

2.
It comes of having things.
A little stone pot on the sill
from Greece by friend
whose loss is still,
still there, palpable,
colorful, the way death’s pigments linger
in the fresh new day.

3.
So I suppose history began
when we first made things.
Before that, there was nothing
to force us to remember,
maybe trees turning color,
but then the green comes back snow melts and here I am.

4.
Thingless thinking?
Goethe begging for more light?
Close the senses, be a stone
and do nothing but remember?
Dangerous mind of morning.

12 October 2022