Gnomic Verses

loop

Down the road Up the hill Into the house
Over the wall Under the bed After the fact
By the way Out of the woods Behind the times
In front of the door Between the lines Along the path

echo

In the way it was in the street

it was in the back it was
in the house it was in the room
it was in the dark it was

fat fate

Be at That this
Come as If when
Stay or Soon then
Ever happen It will

look

Particular pleasures weather measures or
Dimestore delights faced with such sights.

here

Outstretched innocence
Implacable distance
Lend me a hand
See if it reaches

time

Of right Of wrong Of up Of down
Of who Of how Of when Of one
Of then Of if Of in Of out
Of feel Of friend Of it Of now

moral

Now the inevitable
As in tales of woe
The inexorable toll
It takes, it takes.

eat

Head on backwards
Face front neck’s
Pivot bunched flesh
Drops jowled brunch.

toffee

Little bit patted pulled
Stretched set let cool.

case

Whenas To for
If where From in
Past place Stated want
Gain granted Planned or

have a heart

Have heart Find head
Feel pattern Be wed
Smell water See sand
Oh boy Ain’t life grand

oh oh

Now and then
Here and there
Everywhere
On and on

winter

Season’s upon us
Weather alarms us
Snow riot peace
Leaves struck fist.

duty

Let little Linda allow litigation
Foster faith’s fantasy famously
And answer all apt allegations
Handmake Harold’s homework handsomely

gotcha

Passion’s particulars
Steamy hands
Unwashed warmth
One night stands

west acton summer

Cat’s rats, Mother’s brother
Vacation’s patience, loud clouds
Fields far, seize trees
School’s rules, friends tend
Lawn’s form, barn’s beams
Hay’s daze, swallows follow
Sun’s sunk, moon mends
Echo’s ending, begin again

far

“Far be it from Harry to alter the sense of drama inherent in the almighty tuxedo ...”

“Far be it from Harry”
Sit next to Mary,
See how the Other
Follows your Mother

pat’s

Pat’s place
Pattern’s face
Aberrant fact
Changes that

four’s

Four’s forms
Back and forth
Feel way Hindside
Paper route Final chute

sentences

Indefatigably alert when hit still hurt.
Whenever he significantly alters he falters.
Wondrous weather murmured mother.
Unforgettable twist in all such synthesis.
Impeccably particular you always were.
Laboriously enfeebled he still loved people.

words

Driving to the expected
Place in mind in
Place of mind in
Driving to the expected

here

You have to reach
Out more it’s
Farther away from
You it’s here

data

Exoneration’s face
Echoed distaste
Privileged repetition
Makeshift’s decision—

?

Now and then
Behind time’s
Emptied scene and
Memory’s mistakes—

?

You are here
And there too
Being but one
Of you—

scatter

All that’s left of coherence.

echo again

Statement keep talking
Train round bend over river into distance

door

Everything’s before you
were here.

summer ’38

Nubble’s Light a sort
of bump I thought—
a round insistent
small place

not like this—
it was a bluff,
tip on the edge
of the sea.

air

Lift up so you’re
Floating out
Of your skin at
The edge but
Mostly up seeming
Free of the ground.

echoes

Think of the
Dance you could do
One legged man
Two legged woman.

there

Hard to be unaddressed—
Empty to reflection—
Take the road east—
Be where it is.

echoes

Sunrise always first—
That light—is it
Round the earth—what
Simple mindedness.

star

Where
It is
There
You are

?

Out there
In here
Now it is
Was also

?

Up where
It will be
And down
Again

?

No one
Point
To it
Ever