17 July 2015

a discovery

I continue my review of my library -- finding homes for material I've had for decades.  & in the process I'm finding hidden treasures.

in my copy of levy's Suburban Monastery Death Poem (Zero Editions: 1968) I found I'd scribbled a poem. it's dated 24 sept 68 which is interesting since levy dates his poem as aug 68.

here it is:

Garbo is asleep on my lap --
she begins to twitch all over &
I wonder if she's having nightmares
& if I shd wake her
but I don't & then twitching stops.

_____________________

there are so many times, d.a. levy,
when I want to say something
about love but end up
not even looking into eyes:
I am a creature of self
trying to reach out
but always finding
my own arms waiting for me

part of me cringes reading this after so many years.  but then as I age I know one needs to put such things in context.  so for me it becomes sort of an historical document. & I see now that it's not simpy an immediate response to reading levy's long poem but also a precursor of my trio of verse journals.  I see a 25 year-old with a cat in his lap   a mimeographd chapbook in one hand & a pencil in the other dashing off the first thing that comes into his head.  it's lovely to know that cat who had such a short life in a way now has a long one. I'll avoid analyzing the obvious.  & ask yr indulgence in even posting this.

No comments: