144
Or honey of ink aggrandizing, gratifying
(" .. .one of the great virologists of the century"),
Meaning: a success, like everybody clse.
When you hear the
Yisgadal II'),iskadasil .III 'ilia)' mharll
When the beloved one hurling her handful of earth
Staggers at the brink as if buffeted by wind
When the congregation responds
Y'lw)' -,II-Ilia)'
Raball lII'vamll, I'olalll III-ai-Ilia), alllla),a-it's
PARTISAN REVIEW
Now my mouth is the flared bell of a silver horn
Now my eyes lidded by the wings of a dragonfly look
Inward for billions of miles, Now my feet are two
Crystals that leave no prints. 0 the poker game!
C losed system, boyish ritual first Sunday evening
Of the month, more innocent than boyish, none sl11oking, few
Cursing, never more than a second beer, game, li ghtness.
Wanting deeply to win, and that wanting what we play
To laugh at, stakes high enough to terrify our
Selves at fourteen, low enough
to
parody that fear.
My brain a clay vessel my fingers unlit candles
My lights a cello, cabalistic rhythms of Spade
Heart C lub Diamond royalty in Gypsy embroidery.
Permi ssion, remi ssion, the Washi ngton AIDS job
My doctors said was too great a risk for me. Now
My heart is fluted amber, umbrage of texts, When
Thou cut down thy harvest in the ficld, and hast forgot
A sheaf in the field, thou sha lt not go again to
Fetch it, for it will be for the stranger,
The fatherless and the widow, Remember thou
Lived a bondsman in the land of Egypt.
Yisgadal
V'),iskadasll
trembling life, crysta l or viral,
Lifespan of the ice-storm the week after I died
That lasted for three days: separate lucid twigs
Still coated with chrism each morning, gutters
Still filigreed with leaf-ice, dialllonded branches
Bowed heavy with light, at dusk still rosy,
Mysterious light melted to a sheen by morning
