EXIST EXILE

1.

invisible language

imprisons : words set traps : meant to

serve they enslave ensnare

shape our thoughts :

preceding us by many ages languages

prescribe distort limit twist influence

suggest : our jargons assure our

self destruction : but words are as

true as poets are : can only be as

true as poets are : only as

forward expanding and

free

by chance
beside me on the table a
book of Spanish poets: turn to Jimenez: read

again of April's brimfull of golden flowers
anointing all with yellow "todo lleno de
amarillo" yellow butterflies yellow roses

how even among the bones of the dead "los
huesos de los muertos" God opens his yellow
hands

3. Sappho

some
singers
survive
still enduring though
suppressed by tyrants by mafias or
stifled by relentless censorship

some
saved for us though

struck down by madness by illness
suicide
some
stay fresh in
spite of crushing

success and adulation

Sappho
survives only by
strength of reputation

stripped by time by winds

shredded by invaders by looters

scattered fragments

salvaged from graves

stitched together

sufficiently to

show her lyric

strength her

surpassing originality

subtle

supple

simple

4.

we see clearly what we are thinking

when we attempt to write

poetry : compression gives

power to stray ideas : loose strands

coil into

compact lines : the

diffuse sharpens

distilling

5.

hope always for

healing emerging from all

our

obsessions with

techniques and

technology :

love of illusion never

left us but some testable

facts did incorporate into our

fictions

6.

recall is similar to

remember with perhaps an

additional urgency

active within it : a shout or a

cry or a message dispatched

canceling the order to

proceed with the execution of the

prisoner

7.

shift the map

slowly

adjust the

alignments to

connect

chart with dark

dice black in night

deep

starred with

skydots

8. Apollinaire

8.

9.

words
warp

language
limits

poetry
pierces

barriers:
breaking out

10. sounding

words
wound

words are
wounds of
sound

sounding down
wards
sounding in
wards
sounding in
words

11. e.e.

Buffalo
Bill's defunct sure

but so's our blue
boy maybe

addressing Mr. Death e.e. was
also speaking

4 himself and
4 all of us

smooth silver
stallion

riders
racing after

glam and
glory

12. cancel me

cancel me / dis
card me / dis
charge me off /
cut me away from
ceaseless Human
conflicts / from killer
crews / the
complicated
credulous Human
crowd /
crazed and
cruel / whose greedy
creed is murder for the
Clan / for the
Country / for the Holy
Creator /
crashing about /
crushing / burning
cities / blazing
continents /
centuries of
crimes / the
careless
chaos / the
colossal waste /
calamities of History

cancel me / dis
charge me /
cull me away /
carry me off / let me be
come self
consoling / alone / self
combing / un
coiling / simple / self
clearing and
clear