THE RED HEART
THE MAN WHOSE PATH WAS ON FIRE
James
Reaney
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XI
The stone, thrown,
returns to its owner.
Like casting the dice in a poem, a body
of water, of land, or even
a man, nipples and hands
rippling
as though the stone the heart is
entered there.
Likewise, the man,
plunged in the air, lunges outward,
a heart of matter,
painfully.
Xll
play of light in the water
wait
wait
..........
in the eyes
appearances,
.......................
charismas, cathedrals
of light.
............
Inwardly,
.......................
against the sky,
....
the secret trees
.......................
are prisms,
....
marvellous mirrors
..............
in which the abstract
....
birds and beasts appear
..............
as crowns, as
..............
the petals of flowers, shaken
..............
on the stalk of life,
..............
taking flight to eternity.
Pay no attention to the path.
The houses will try to hold you.
In the space between your upraised arms,
the world grows round and large.
XIII
Lie down we say to the dog,
play dead. The bees are humming
for your life and your eyes.
....
John said
....
"every time
....
I take a bite there's more of me
....
& less of everything else."
A world devoured
disappears down a long tube (spiral)
ending in a hand.
Releases what into the void?
A captive breath escaping.
....
"enough to see
....
real people
....
by this light,"
....
said the white king.
Angels then, combustive process,
evaporation, metal rust, super-heroes
delving beneath the earth.
Upward—angel, skyscraper, rocket.
XlV
As long as there is a path, sooner or later,
soldiers will walk on it. This poem
avoids soldiers. At least live ones.
God's battle with the rebel angels is over,
or so it wants to believe.
To die violently is altogether too ugly.
This poem should be strangled in its sleep.
It has not quite wakened up yet.
XV
A LIST OF DESIRABLE OBJECTS
1. A round window that makes a common exclamation.
2. A chandelier that rings for breakfast at midnight.
3. Poems from whose service cold turkeys are exempted.
4. The sheriff's mashed potatoes, earned in blood.
5. Trees that are upside down without knowing it.
6. A virgin peace pipe.
7. A gallery or gathering of flowers which flutters uselessly without
deceiving itself.
8. Ants to eat the flowers and provide conversation at the otherwise silent
meal. |
