More Doctrines Than Jewels

I

The soul in the river comes out
Turns around
Dives laughing

It knows the feel of wet exchange
Drops of me drops of you
You being the river alone
Unobserved or
Perceived by multitudes solitudes
Swimmers
Skaters and long walks
People who dance inside and can't sing but in
Showers with myopia

II

Blueness for the first time hurt me
In the back-memory chords and fibers
Above cities and suburbs with restaurants
Carpools and mechanics laughing
She waved to me as if
She were the blue and I
Was that fallen horizon

The clouds changed like waves
Like movies in the store
No warning that her gift was over
I just heard her departure
Moved closer to one day or the next
As if two natures could develop
Beyond quandary and launch
Action like running or walking
Only to decelerate the touch and feel
What few vibrations remain

III

Lean into the day
Take Baroque stances

Daughter or sister of the past
Was reaching for a book in the stacks
Dust fell on the cat
Required of used-book stores
She looked at me and her book
Object-screens shifted from shelves to hands to my face
The lights flashed three times
It was Ten Till

Things jumbled in the arms
Not enough cash to make it

IV

Encoded in the everyday were fresh barbs
Laughter at the hubris
The oh-so important technique of man
When we give meaning to the defenseless the indifferent
Thronging world
A river carries itself with vagueness
And eats causality for breakfast