James Tate
From ABSEN CES
«I'll write a song about nothing at
all,
Not about myself, nor about anything else.
Not about love, nor about the joys of youth,
Nor anything else.
I wrote it just now as I slept
In the saddle.
I do not know at which hour I was born;
I am not joyful and yet not sad;
I am neither reserved nor intimate
And can do nothing about it:
I was put under a spell one night
On a high hill."
-GUILLAUME
IX
OF AQUlTAINE
(1071-1127)
When did you begin your quest?
I'm late now.
Crucial moment before a shave,
the stars are famished.
Pop off
my
arms,
give them away, no, throw.
Neither possibility
is
a possibility:
putrid sludge of veins
&
arteries.
