The Book
odd the way the book itself
changes
changes direction
or its very nature
the boat
carries you across
& you leave
the boat behind
it is a costly
way
steady
in its ongoing difference
(5/20/14)
* * * * *
That Brought Us Here
we are the ones
who tell good stories
smile receive accolades
for the comforts we provide
compare to a tree
a stone or any other
human life
what was it
that brought us
here & why do we
think
that our telling of it
should make sense
either you
do or do not
think the invisible
merits discussion
what’s the path
way to & into
this page
do you need
to see it
written
down
(5/24/14)
* * * * *
Bright Light
to seek that
bright light
which we think
to be
singular
bright light
of shipwreck
a light we find
composed
of many lights
a life composed
of many
lights
enigma being
the many
lights too many
to find
a singular
light
to wander a life
time in
the many
lights
half
the time in
darkness
& in sleep
no less a place
numerous
& enigmatic
to seek that
bright light
as if it were
different
than the many
lights
we are
(6/24/14)
* * * * *
Moon
full moon
over
Santa Monica Pier
moon above
the illuminated
ferris wheel
a large scale
photo
now mounted
over his bed
in the assisted
living
facility where
he is dying
for several years
he had been
tracking
the coming &
going
of the full
moon
to take a photo
each month
one month
the moon
seen through
a Richard Serra
sculpture
the moon
became his way
of knowing
time
a cyclical
ritual
which he
performed
with great anticipation
& affection
until
he could
not
the moon
on the other
hand
continued
exactly
as it had
(8/18/14)
* * * * *
Clanking
my vision is not
the child’s
song of innocence
nor is it the one
of wonder my vision
is the insistent
voice of hypothesis
what if what if
& a song
given over to
what is
for which i give
gratitude
in this vision
most of the thinking
is nothing but thanking
the clanking of a
language
released from its
chains
(11/23/14)
* * * * *
The editors of On The Seawall are grateful to Presses Universitaires de Rouen et du Havre (PURH) for permission to publish these five poems from Hank Lazer’s Poems That Look Like Poems.