"the face of the reading woman"
If the moon is not spoken,
then there is no speech. Neither man nor woman invented it;
speech is what is left,
like the footprint,
after the body is gone,
what is made out of the food chewed by the big teeth,
touched by soft lips,
the phillipine chillies arousing the throat,
all nourishment in the belly,
becomes words,
the lost 5 days of light
which the moon generously lost
to let Nut have her rebellious children.
Yes Creeley, there is a form of women which will never leave you
alone
as long as you make a word.
That word comes out of you
as you see light on the silver bow,
the glint of that moving silver arrow,
the swift death which becomes meat,
the celebration of eating, drinking, reading:
the beautiful woman with a
silver foot.
Diane Wakoski - from "Searching For The Canto Fermo"
-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 11:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: STIMULUS: THE READER
Dear Anthony
But New York City is not small and I had a similar experience, and it
similarly amazed and embarrassed me. I was on the train, traveling to Ohio,
and about to get out a book to read when I glanced at the woman sitting next
to me quietly reading. Astonishingly, the book she was reading was
Entropisms, my book of prose poems that had just come out. I could hardly
see the face of the reading woman. I was too shocked, delighted, and yet
afraid to look again at my book, no longer mine, out in the world - and I
face to face with it, the stranger.
Harriet Zinnes
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