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“Dignity is a part of a man . . .”
- Wesleyan University Press
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“Dignity is a part of a man . . .” Dignity is a part of a man being naked before everybody. The part where the heart separates itself from the loins. The poet is stepping out of the airplane. Dignity is a part of a rose in a broken vase. The part where the thorns separate themselves from the flower The poet is stepping out of the airplane Dignity is a part of not being asked. * I miss you, I said. The dead flowers, The poets who wanted to kiss me, the naked hatred That wanted to kiss me. I miss their flowers I miss the hatred of not being asked. But Jack . . . Shut up, I said. Nothing but love could have eaten the roses. * Then, as we went toward the big ocean Our poems became more threatening. Words sounded like D-E-A-T-H, L-O-V-E, and the seals howled up from the rocks like the last line of a French poem. * Spicer: My Vocabulary Did This to Me page 233 233 God is merely domestic. Death is merely domestic. They are a lie told to disguise the nature of art. The poet is stepping out of the airplane. Magic is merely domestic. Dignity is merely domestic. The poet is stepping out of the airplane. My house is merely domestic. I live in my house; my skin lives in my house. We are domestic. My house is merely domestic. We are a lie to disguise the nature of art. * I loved him. I loved him. I loved you. I loved him. I loved him. I loved you. It is true. It is true. It returns. Spicer: My Vocabulary Did This to Me page 234 234 ...