the Destruction of word(s)

Psalm for Oppen

In worse forest
deer bed over--
there.


as eyes soften
lips nibble
nipples nuzzle
alien plastic grass
filling the remainder
of Easter crosses

roots dangle from mouths
like flesh
earth scatters ash
yet the natural tombs
are there.


Paths nibbled thru leaves
circles outsource
honor is aforementioned
side notes whiter in reference
reign in environment--
no green piece left unturned
words left to hang in the sun


Faith in the wild
Dear George,
Harps left sharp
Dual messages undelivered
Students lost beyond the depths
Studies of academic yearnings
left naked
to engulf and to leave not in exile
but in sheer vulgarity.








this poem is partly taken from this Oppen poem

Psalm
In the small beauty of the forest
The wild deer bedding down --
That they are there!

Their eyes
Effortless, the soft lips
Nuzzle and the alien small teeth
Tear at the grass

The roots of it
Dangle from their mouths
Scattering earth in the strange woods.
They who are there.

Their paths
Nibbled thru the fields, the leaves that shade them
Hang in the distances
Of sun

The small nouns
Crying faith
In this in which the wild deer
Startle, and stare out.