MICHAEL PALMER ~

After Midnight

Sometime after midnight

Han Shan drifted down

a mountain path

and arrived in my dream

only to announce

that every angel is terrifying

also that heron you saw

by the muddy pond

was not real.

You, reader,

may believe this or not.

Han Shan said

that he does not

though he spoke

such words

to me

as if

they were his own.

_________________

Michael Palmer

Little Elegies for Sister Satan

New Directions, 2021

MICHAEL PALMER ~

After

And to write a poem

beneath the sickle moon

is barbaric

And to trace a poem

upon the lover's body

is barbaric

And to write a poem

amidst the dust

amidst the dust

storm of history is barbaric

And to read a poem

To read

while the book is burning

and to enter the Paper House

while the streets are burning

To enter the Paper House

which is silent

And to hear the song

should we call it a song

soonest gone

of the cicadas

in the parching heat

when to drink

of the lover's liquid

is barbaric

And to wander

in a dark wood

wander lost

in a dark wood

to look

and to begin

to say farewell

to begin

and to dwell

to dwell upon

to dwell among

——————————

Michael Palmer

The Laughter of the Sphinx

New Directions 2016