53.
I can do nothing to help you but go
to sleep
in my dream your destiny propose
city after city with huge parks in
them
a green so broad it holds an ocean
snug
the other side of color is a man
basalt rough carved to look like you
a tree is meditation
crosslegged contemplative of Roquepertuse
graphic reference like a crowded train
filled with drowsy reveries
enough imagework in there to build a
Parthenon
but there are no virgins left no ratios.
54.
You don’t know where you’re going
till you’ve left the place behind
raptacious the old word is a hawk in
your head
close to the parapet the first time all
Paris known
for I was there in person for a
change
not one of Atget’s pigeons the shadow
on the wall my own
we live lives parallel with ourselves
from far out at sea you can see the
way we move
deed making deed the wind blows it
all away
read the wakes of light we leave
behind us
parallels meet at the infinity called
mind
where you slip your shoes and
backpack off
and children chase their gaudy mother
down the street.