Ways with We Mirror People

[after Jack Spicer]

I wanted to touchthe bell because I wanted to touch a body.I wanted to say O, I do not know what to not do with the body, then the sounds came and I took them into the laboratory.I wanted to say Star and have the light sweep of the sky sleep against my cheek.I opened the window and touched you. It was one kind of celebration.But O, I said, that is the way with we mirror people.Outside, in a late parade, the roundest figures floated a head out ahead of everyone.Ahead of the head was the bell, which was being beaten to draw out the hum of its body.You said the head isn't such a terrible thing,even when we want it to be. Such a lovely hum this year, you said. I asked about the bell, if it was sorry we used such use of its tongue, or if when it was done we would remember it. You said sucha lovely hum this year. Outside,our people gathered sticks to go after the bell.I wanted something to carry so I gathered our boy's hair and beat the ground with it.O, I said, as the new body began to grow.When the new boy was done he began by asking his questions.If I am a new boy, he asked, why did you take me from my brother?I didn't answer him since he was not my son.If I am new, he asked, what's to be done?