Two by Manal Kara
Approach the glacier
There is more than enough here
to turn the river against us. Let us
first consider it as a distributed system.There are
alluvial sites, my roommate begins thru a cigarette
always merely the messenger
Silt is the preferred medium
if we wish to excise organic matter
a vacuum may be indicated
Consolidation is one form
of madness: consider the source
Its propensity to contain what we call mortal
I recommend a more porous architecture
COWBOY’S DANCE/ cowboy’s lament
I SET UP THE STAIR. Lone slutty sock
slouched round ankle
Actions unsettled.
They had no need of the good.
I could and couldn’t
but bit the breeze, quieting
the liver’s testament to time and place
finds in me now no master
to orient the nagging magnitude
If I have to learn your language by turning to stone
I will—
what unbridled hubris !
I would return only a rudimentary analysis.
When facts become anchored, they lose their sexiness.
I know this is wrong.
below,
in the street
cars speed up
drag against each other
dueling in tepid publicity
I WANT DESPERATELY to be on the side of the particular
II. real need is on the side of the particular— the general makes no demands of us,
hardly cares if we live
or the other
“let them stay in their holy fever
let them stay in their hay forever”
curbed up acropolis
the least determinate state
to wash over your head
in an instant
to be extraordinarily sweet to me
I HAVE NO LUST FOR CASTLES. keep my hours small
as to fit in my hand. bind them
by whatever means
close to hand. i have set
the full weight
of my liver on this expiring hour some might
consider it heretical
We must resist assigning words
to parts of ourselves.
We must draw the strings together
until the thing is made whole.
FRIEND, tell me the story and start from the beginning.
Thumbnail: Manal Kara, Taxonomies of brutality, whose systematics are in flux, pt. 2