HOW KEEP DARK AND PATTERN OFF
How keep dark
and pattern that any man suffers
off—at the wall, at where the hat
comes out of the marrow & yawns—
how keep head up the scream
& up the burial where the pattern is born—
how the leagues washing their hearts
& wrung dry only to sponge back up—men
smooching mirrors—blades honing—
tongue & eyelash of Sweet Thing
staggering the shape by the door in the baggy shadow—
how keep dark back?
Or should one bullet-forth, sleek-clothed or naked—pierce
each entity—each clock—sharpened by art
or wine—how
enter the needle, the cloth—
how take the pattern any man suffers
and lose nothing when you
rip it off.
Stan Rice, Some Lamb 1975