‘Fundamentalist’s Clarity’

Wikipedia Poem, No. 516

w516-sm
“They fed the roots, / climbed through its leaves / to soak in sunlight … / and so, she told me, / I can see.” Tyehimba Jess

for Paul Beatty

they   clean   kotten awa
break apart appear naked   especially 
intelligence of the moon   identifies   dance  i am 
a poor rabbit   if we killed enjambment 
be a rabbit skinned   in my   beggar's heart
dirty   in   kotten awa   break apart   appear 
glowing in   top flight pleasure   
yourself a moment of corrective punishment 
waking all the   moon identities dance the dance of i am
a poor what if   we killed enjambments   be a   hare 
in   my beggar's heart   dashed again in   kotten awa 
break apart   appear glowing in the news? — no
deceit   in my beggar's   heart
made whole in   kotten awa   then   break apart

Wikipedia Poem, No. 279

wiki279
“the body’s pain and the pain on the streets / are not the same but you can learn / from the edges that blur O you who love clear edges / more than anything watch the edges that blur” Adrienne Rich

 

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Source:

  • Rich, Adrienne. “Contradictions: Tracking Poems.” Collected Poems, 1950-2012. , 2016. Print. Page 656.

You Will Never See Her Again, No. 2

It’s unfair to compare the man to the woman one so complete the other bristling with prostate

But fairness was never one for this world
was born with a full head of hair
6’2″
he took a long time to come out unfairly
his eyes as is normal turned brown
had been
blue in witness he unlearned swimming
never drowned

Had no teenage years
no earning years
no sweet nor equal years
but instead went straight to death
not with ceremony not with love not with passion

What eulogy now–

He went with truth which did nothing for
he went with satisfaction
too soon and sour.