Remembering with some other memory,
As if thinking everything at once
Were just like forgetting.
3
I thought I was the only one in space
With the pattern trees had behind as I
Ran to the postoffice as if there
Weren't time. I thought the idea for
Eternity began in the speed of connections
Between non-proximate things. Like a
Chance to keep staying with no sequence
Between. What I thought, for instance,
As a slight retraction of this light
Weather in summer, the tablecloth
Moving from the ocean you imagine behind
Blowing in waves through trees. I thought
I could see blank waves left from leaves
Or fast dark brown birds leaving the sky
Like a table from the night before's
Party with empty bottles and candles.
I thought time always took back something
From space, so that what you imagine as
The most secret memory is still possible
To S<;ly. As light always gets back
Enough color from the sides of everything
To keep from going completely away. I
Could hardly wait for what I don't know,
Maybe just an idea.
If
I were a painter
I thought it would be a whole page of
Blossoms like fields in China filled with
Birds and buildings and the hot last part
Of spring. I thought it would be late
Where you were, I thought, to go out
To get marigolds or wild roses.
