Both sharply observed, & sharp in observation, Lawrence, & then that final line.
It hits, home.
Doug
On Apr 23, 2015, at 10:42 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 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*
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
There is no life that does not rise
melodic from scales of the marvelous.
To which our grief refers.
Robert Duncan.
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