Like the ways of seeing here, L. Get a sense of what's going on in the head as it rakes the beach. Particularly like the lettuce image. The dipping bread image seems more 'worked' but is growing on me.
B
> On 24 Apr 2015, at 2:53 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> 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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