Monday, May 14, 2007

[To look, to stand]



To look, to stand — a place
where pause is made, or

where one stands nearer. How
closely, near touching, tangles:

silver than — danger
than — foster than — harbor

than most dearly and troubled.
None that say swollen. None

that say whistles. None that
say wand'ring. None that say

bramble, and none
that say nothing at all. No —

slipped and squalled and no
nearer than that.






[ADDENDUM: My use of this blog has demonstrated that I'm unable to leave a poem alone once I've put it up. As such I've decided to start recording my edits — like errata slips, but where the errata described are my own, rather than a publisher's.

In this instance:

• the last sentence (in the final three lines) was added a few minutes after publication.

• the positions of "harbor" and "danger" have been reversed

• in the last sentence, "No" was earlier "O."

• line breaks have been revised; the end words before the afternoon of 5/14 were:
is | nearer. | tangles: | foster | dearly | None | wand'- | none | slipped | that.]


No comments: