PARADOX HILL: "FROM APPALACHIA TO LUNAR SHORE, REVISED EDITION"

MINUTIAE

66 MINUTIAE Hill Song The ferns are in the fiddlehead, fiddlehead; The ferns are in the fiddlehead. The service tree in the woods is white; The wild crab sheds its fragrant light; The bullfrogs boom from the crick at night— And the ferns are in the fiddlehead. Moment Caught at Twilight by a West Virginia Barn A rainbow curves between day and dark, And the swallows fly through the rainbow’s arc. Moment The firedogs guard my hearth tonight; A fallen forest embers there; Photons of enigmatic light Dispute my table and my chair. Quatrain When the firedrake comes again, When the firefang eats the grain, Then extinguish my desire— Inundating fire with fire. Vietnam Born in war and bred in war, My son, I hope you are ready for ——— Journey From her torture going free— Safe into insanity. 67 Couplet I write now of justice from where I am lain— This bone is my pencil, my tablet the rain. Well Meaning Well meant! Well meant! Say that she meant so well She always brought good tidings out of Hell. The Torque I dreamed the world was like a torque Of twisted space and twisted time— As I am of this torquéd race So bitter twisted—and sublime. Must Be In the infinite worlds of expanding space, Where the suns swing out, and the quasar rolls— In the undimensions of time and place, There must be a star for souls. Cold Comfort for the Population Explosion Lemmings leap into the sea— Caterpillars on the tree strangle softly— So will we. My Enemy Who hated me, who did me wrong Until I wished him dead, And who, today, discomfits me By being as I said. 68 Axiom X Is sex. Universal There is no Hell, but here on earth we pause, To spend vacations with our out-in-laws. Riposte The depth of your smooth texture I divine, But not how your good conscience makes you mine. Couple You have not changed—for Time is kind; Your face—to me—is never lined; As you grow wrinkled, I grow blind. ...