KENNETH KOCH
91
And I res ist. I run and they chase me. T hey can never stop me from
moving a nd I can never comp letely get away. Wha t's Dante's Paradi se
compa red
10
th a t? Yo u a lways think I am kidding. I am trying
to
define
happ iness by wha t I've actua ll y go t and then go on from there.
Afterwards we can have something to eat and drink and re-enter the
process, you who seem more comfo rta bl e in the process but who are, I
imagine, inside, like me, a wa tcher o f Essaouiras. Do I love you for
that? I do n 't know if I love you o r have ever loved anything or an yone. I
am a desert . Kill me. And now a town . Signed, "Zagora."
Coda
Morocco, Mo rocco. the interviews are done
Farewell , Pa rt of the Continuum
Hello, Stra nges t Days
We appcl l you Conundrum, the wo rl d's grea test word
Your cities - Oua rzaza te, Essaouira, Zagora- are like teeth
Part of an eno rmous j aw, whi ch is Yo u
And the seri ousness of a discourse is no t in a few deta ils
And the burnin g soul of a human no t ava il abl e to see in a few frill s–
What COUIllS, counts. Childhood is over. Ado lescence is over.
T he great hUIll [o r death has begun . But you know a ll of thi s is bullshit.
o
transfer paper of the sun
T here's no denying it's pa inful to leave anything
And in fact so pa inful do I fin d leav in g
That to hell with it I am go in g
to
rema in
Rema ining is a lso a sort of leav ing (I am sorry to
Have
to
say tha t!) so how except by p rose can one stay
I can write a bo ut d istracti ons
But I will always come back to you ,
Essaouri a whi ch moved me so curi ously,
Ouarzaza te of the bro ken windshi eld.
