This constantly resonates and surprises -
the two losses, by such deaths as those,
momentarily seem to connect with several lines
but with a movement away towards the end
to another sort of meditation…?
Thanks, Lawrence,
so much in this leads me to see and sense connections.
Max
in Seattle
I never spoke with Zurbrugg but recall the impression
(European earnestness of a special sort)
that he made on me at an academic
conference in I think Brisbane many years ago.
On Apr 22, 2015, at 2:42, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> *i. m. Nicholas Zurbrugg (**October 14 2001 brain haemorrhage);** Alaric
> Sumner **March 24, 2000 heart attack*
>
>
> Gulls wash themselves at incoming tide's edge;
>
> grouped individuals beyond all piers,
>
> where local emptiness becomes Atlantic:
>
> close, as Death is close; close to danger;
>
> beasts, burdened by desire's weight, preying;
>
> bidden by fear; and, yet, fear-forgetful.
>
>
> They, any one, who goes out -- the brain stops
>
> blood-stayed in fat towans it cannot flow.
>
> or wakes up at morning and living dies -
>
> the heart ceases beating -- ceasing to be,
>
> is beaten.
>
>
> And they wash themselves in the grubby waves
>
> white feathers abstract white,
>
> the grey comforting
>
> as an oily dip for still warm bread,
>
> beaks the dawn sun yellow, cruel to pity.
>
>
> Yet it's comical. She on this railing slips,
>
> recovering immediately upon interlocking
>
> interrupts - a good machine within a bird,
>
> custodian of simple craft mechanics:
>
> me first, and then the rest, me first, before,
>
> a priority - they stick their arses in the air
>
> and roll, tight lettuces in wings and legs.
>
>
> All animals are clean, except humans.
>
> All healthy animals are always clean.
>
> These birds are ever digging in their plumage,
>
> punctuating other behaviour.
>
> Cats do their bottoms when they can't decide
>
> what to do next, ready at any time
>
> to leap, when it may not be avoided,
>
> constantly self-maintained and thoughtful as weapons.
>
>
> October 2001, revised slightly
>
>
>
> *- towans = wind-formed sand hills, Cornish dialect from Cornish language*
>
> *- interrupt = as in computer technology, the process of breaking into an
> existing process to suspend or stop it*
>
> *- that cats wash their backsides when they don't know what to do is the
> expressed belief of a new friend; that cats do not want to chase anything
> but are compelled by movement as moths by light is my own observation*
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