Epigraph

 

 

I haven't been taking censorship, I've just

been entrusted with some things not to say;

but any consistency, of which this setting is a part,

eludes me, and I it,

from lines to lines

like birds.

 

But think of why you are cold and strong,

then trapped and betrayed by natural events,

shapes, and feelings among the waves;

walking the earth as though it were useful,

sweeping through its combinations working as steps ―

it is the history of the invitation.

 

             

                                                                1977

from  The History of the Invitation: New & Selected Poems 1963 - 2000