This poem is taken from PN Review 171, Volume 33 Number 1, September - October 2006.
Two DuetsDuet with Fernando Pessoa
At times we wish that we could disappear,
having followed too long the terrified trails of sparrows
between rafter beams and the branches of elms
all that's been dashed upon itself
in back alleyways and coal-pits, everything I follow
on my brainless ramble through the market,
where I flatten out to fit the tatters of my wallet.
Meanwhile, the baker's fire collapses back to ash,
and the broad-chested church on the corner
absorbs all sounds not sanctioned by the rain.
When we see between things, where ether's heaving
at the border, see how the shape of the leaf, for instance,
dilates beyond contours permitted by the eye,
where underlying matter can muster beyond
the banter of books, then we see a votive geometry
...
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