MEDITATIONS IN THE CITY

Grain

slowly fills

the photograph

the red

and the red and black

attended distractions

blind turns

this is what

we made

of what

we had

of what

was left

the first thing

we built on

was our

rhythms

mirror words

of no more

than précis

motion

called addition

distorted doors

in or out

pages

folded or torn

wet

hanging

straight down

in the wind

the scrutiny

of moving sounds

trans and back

paced by

the verb’s

disclosures

opened up

walking

along walls

in zero

gravity

solved

come to

rest within

the outward

boundaries

where no

other eye

will follow

a code

for a

basis of

exchange

no more than

two at a time

any two

who serenely

say they will

take

the risk

serenely

exotic

vectors

a display of

consonance

mouths

open and

closed

the responsive

distinctions

remain the same

a slanted

thing extending

the habit and

expanse

of diffusion

brick and

stone by

plank

and mortar

bringing

devoted shapes

to vacancy

sustained

by slender

means

decisions and

reversals within

the contraption

and tilt

of machines

arc to

trench

pallet and

floor all

with secret

names

if nothing else

the proprietary

whispered

about in

mud phrases

punched

through stony

worlds

blunt as a

footprint

before the sun

walks

in its parlance

as far as

its animal

and the limits

of the face

a primitive

alternative

to its name

the habit

and rule

of thumb

waking

in the present

sighted along

the prospect

become

moraine

what else

might there be

in such light

some mark

found

that dates back

a finite

continuity

a counterweight

how else

imagine what

has been

led into

the hand

it considers

in the moment

before the eye

provides

the terms

of its identity

amid the ashes

of its former

element

reminds

of what still

might

be found

under

the broken

gate

little else

that’s sacred

intersecting with

the contentions

of the reply

purport

the contentions

of the tale

a cadence

just as close

but no more

correct

a first

syllable

and nothing

more neither

a new

way nor

the old shapes

once forgotten

now changing

through limited

circulation

the directions

of the account

an arterial

advance

it has been

said what

was partial

was overstated

skin marks

protocols

nostalgias

the more

remote

the track

the more

familiar

the sequence

a shiver

of motives

in the display

of concealment

and inclusion

seen in

the distance

lashed

to the mast

interest lay

in what is abandoned

its aggregate

attractions

irrevocable

a story

without hands

all tongue

and eyes

a regretted

message

assigned

extravagantly

false conclusions

noted elsewhere

without remorse

or ambiguity

phantoms

of the stubborn

intervals

no longer

the form

a heavy grasp

the instance

only an

opposing

sound

verifying

what had been

foreseen

and is now

an overtaken

pretext

the sequestered

ways of

discretion

solid margins

unlike for like

the retort

and recognition

finding

the factors

of an uncharted

dialect amid

the tangle

of self-deceptive

rumor from

the pedestrian

quadrant

is absolute

agate

or wax

the placement

of beams

augured

in the flight

of birds

sighted

against

the sunrise

investments

in the substance

of distinctions

so well disguised

they were

nearly forgotten

suspension

rising and

falling

closer

in midair

blue shadows

piecework

displacements

and extensions

of pattern

separate divisions

cut with a leaf

wide as a wrist

iron work

has duration

in mind

whetted axes

arms

extended

trespass

and unpredicted

anecdote

complete

these

make music

to conclusion

pitched

fire

any squared

first fact

an alliance

of ideas

dilating

for influence

what was not

implicated

but arose

revealed

abstract

dimensions

orders and

quanta

heat

drawn from

the tip

of the tongue

the immediate

understanding

drawn

ahead of time

into the rain

and snow

survive

the season

uncertain

of its storms

the specific

parable

of the garden

too odd in

the telling

insists on

a reply

just where

the question

falters

the candor

of both eyes

was in

the lurch

of a false

start

it coaxes

the answer

into the chase

its unprotected

attributes

remain

spare accents

that recede into

separate

meanings

featureless

eminences

tropical

disturbances

expanding both

sides of

the equation

balance pushed

over balance

infinity its

extra objects

where were

day and night

the answer

lost between

night and day their

identical bearings

agreed at last

this was

a previous

perspective

slipped through

the immediate

distance its

inherited touch

receptive black

on black lifted

by the light

furthest from

the persistence

of sudden change

stubborn hours

stubborn clay

momentum and

air resistance

fracture

and astringency

the surface of

the water

known only in

strophic order

for synopsis

neuropoly

attracts an array

chromatic reins

pulled by

the obliquities

of selfishness

and candor

dual keys

an index

a diagram

endlessly

in haste

December, 1998-March, 2001

-Ray DiPalma