Stillness

[wpaudio url=”/audio/5_6/parker1.mp3″ text=”listen to this poem” dl=”0″]

From the defoliated fixed point
in the ex-forest, Mr. Zero
stares into the vanishing point.
At the vanishing point, no one
stares back at portly Mr. Zero.
There is no shot / reverse shot
except as you pan across the scene
in these restless words.
In these restless words,
Madame Seventy-Three calls
for an end to abstractions.
Madame Seventy-Three prefers
lagoons to abstractions. By the
bank of a green lagoon a tart
eats a tart and finds its flavor
tart. She cares not for
Madame Seventy-Three.
Madame Seventy-Three likes it
that way. She likes things
that Mr. Zero cannot see.
Madame Seventy-Three understands
that portly Mr. Zero can see
things vanish, but in the stillness
she knows that he cannot
see her flinch or sneer.

Chant for the Twentieth Century

[wpaudio url=”/audio/5_6/parker2.mp3″ text=”listen to this poem” dl=”0″]

You go to the cemetery.
You see the regular size of the graves.

You head downtown.
You cross the usual grey of the streets.

You go to the station.
You go all the way, all the way down.

You drive to the undriven estuary
and stare at the swelling waters.

You go to the cemetery.
You see the regular size of the graves.