Wednesday, November 14, 2012


GOODBYE ~



 

 

Jack Gilbert

(1925-2012)

 

 
Tear It Down 
 by Jack Gilbert
 
We find out the heart only by dismantling what 
 
the heart knows. By redefining the morning, 
 
we find a morning that comes just after darkness. 
 
We can break through marriage into marriage. 
 
By insisting on love we spoil it, get beyond 
 
affection and wade mouth-deep into love. 
 
We must unlearn the constellations to see the stars. 
 
But going back toward childhood will not help. 
 
The village is not better than Pittsburgh. 
 
Only Pittsburgh is more than Pittsburgh. 
 
Rome is better than Rome in the same way the sound 
 
of racoon tongues licking the inside walls 
 
of the garbage tub is more than the stir 
 
of them in the muck of the garbage. Love is not 
 
enough. We die and are put into the earth forever. 
 
We should insist while there is still time. We must 
 
eat through the wildness of her sweet body already 
 
in our bed to reach the body within the body.
 

 

 http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-poet-jack-gilbert-dies-20121113,0,2268324.story