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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*