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bookshelves,
emitting black dimensions, stygian
and pure.
A chair projects a symbol,
malformed,
on the floor, and Berenice's Hair,
blowing
somewhere, showers her human arm.
Page 70
Lift-Off
She made her first flight
just short of ninety.
Never afraid, might have
at any time, and always
said, though our car stood
on jacks in 1932 (no time
to treat for lessons), "I could.
I know I could have driven."
She walked the mile to church;
then rode with neighbors. Sometimes
a cousin took her for a drive.
On Saturdays watched keenly,
from the front porch, "people pass."
Later traveling prone cross-state
in the back seat of our car,
remote and ill, she roused:
"Are thosemountains? . . .
Beautiful."
It would have been exuberance
to fly back with her,
look down on rambling
cars and rivers (Beautiful).
However, we ourselves drove down
and met her coffin at the funeral home.
She got there first.
Page 71
Late Leisure
Some things achieve finale;
vivace to larghetto;
three hundred pages. End;
threescore and ten, of course,
that's it.
But this embroidery that I
inch aimlessly along
could be found years from now
wadded unfinished
in a basket.
I, past my expiration date,
fold the cloth twice for center,
my needle threaded for the first
small stitch, myself
capriciously ongoing.
I see it, as a sampler, challenging.
It has a long, protracted feel
the dog each morning barking at the gate,
just where I left him
yesterday.
I'll flesh out by the millimeter
a gawky shepherdess,
a time-lapse Federal house beyond,
odd birds and fish to signify
earth floundering on,
the alphabet that's used
for English, French, Italian
more tongues that I will speak
in this life, but fewer than birdcalls
I recognize.
Page 72
I'll work through color changes
almost photosynthetic;
I'll search out chairs by windows
in south-facing rooms;
I'll never work by artificial light.
The sun won't cast a shadow of these men.
The curly beasts submit to cubist life
as in some static dream
the dead dream in their sleep,
some plastic intervention.
If I get to the last rows
of this kit, I'll have to find
another one as slow and interim;
but no need plan that yet.
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