A Literalist

the root and mirror

of a plant

its shape

and power familiar

iris

the light is disturbed by

the boxwood leaves

shining

rosemary

green, unblossoming

(the earth is too damp)

the eye catches

almost a tune

the moth in the piano

wherein

unhammered

the air rings with

an earlier un

ease of the senses

disturbed ( by Mrs. Arpan,

wife of a sailor

Rating:

One and one make two,
the literalist said.
So far they've made five billion,
said the lateralist, or ten
times that, if you count the dead.

104

Rating: