Death

I really respect the poetry of J.L.Borges. Among other things, I like the way in which his poems achieve a directness, and a clarity that often seems like simplicity. Also, he makes the subject matter of his poems very clear before hand, often through a descriptive title. I like this because it clears the stage for the reader, i.e. the reader does not have to guess what the poem is about, rather they know and can proceed to soak in the subtleties and impressions which made J.L.B. writer about them in the first place.

As a thought, his poems seem very conventional on the page, but it is said that he composed them first through memorization after losing his sight. So, what would be the representation of a poem in a blind man's mind, given that this former director of a library did know how poems were often represented? My guess would be a gradually increasing freedom and musical formlessness. Colors in blackness.

This poem is attempting to achieve directness, to whatever degree of success.

DEATH

Speaking means

trying

to cross

that ocean.

Fluorescent hum.

The floating tubes. White

walls and linen. Turned

to the right or left or.

Time only the hands

bringing the tube.

It doesn’t matter.

Stillness draws itself up.

The overlap begins.

Dawn breaks

and the beauty thereof.

And the rain accrues.

The river spills.

Only a dream.

The infinite, holy

nothing

holds me.