Barbara Guest

Multiplicity

i
 
        An opposing force nestles closer
        —to the four square of its joint
 
              the nimbus divides at an unfaded seam
 
 
        and the naughts are shuffled at the table
 
                               and rapidly the wheedling gems
        appear and disappear from an unsteady table —;
 
                               —this superstition —
        the oathing —(winter in society) is felt by the hard folk
        and they scatter —
 
        and read their palm —the oathing catches up    under the nimbus
they part —
 
                            eliminate the intoxication of force —and the mincing
suggestions cast by the opposing force     weep at solemnity horse on the
platform    his thrust —
 
                            yet they are freed of the nimbus and opposition
they are like larvae —they are under the glass at first —and they proceed
with exemplary caution over newly paved roads    under the spy glass
 
                        like Hannibal; and again as the wheels of a traveller
             reactions are diverse    not being under the nimbus —
 
                                            being Latinate perhaps —.
 
This was worth breathing into —translated not bloody —
afternoon under new palms and rivers    imagination agitated and warm—;
 
 
  ii
 
yet verbal complications —(bestial desiring) —Jove or his discontent
                      Zodiacal origins —
                                                        Soul mosquito Soul
 
                      memory of the oathing —.
 
It was a shawl on that table                         that hair piece the rhythm
      of the forehead    classic moans
 
                        interrupted the blink    the mellow square
            memory and her hireling —;
 
                                                  the same supperless complications
 
gods who multiply; wench who lifted her eyes —; what passes on the tile’s
 
belly (the mantle and) —perhaps Allah.
 
Regard the wheel
                        dark blue   maraudering.
 
                                  iii
 
               Not being under the nimbus    of earthen of metal
                         terrace levelled beams crossed; folk who
               offer early and late    zero numbers
                         sneeze in late autumn    the random
 
 
 
                                                      chalk sketch
 
               primi pensieri:
                                              that man coming up the hill
 
                       attitudini:
 
                                              it grows later as he climbs
                                          the multiplicity of early
                                                                                of late
 
 
 
                                  iv
 
                        landscape’s script and nimbus
 
                                                                       natural and mimetic
 
                               serene yearning
 
                         early and late
 
 
                                              Dejection and the Ode.
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