- The Pale Wall Became the Mind Itself
After "The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm" by Wallace Stevens
The pale wall standing in front of him was a lake.Then, in his mind, the pale wall became the mind itself
and the pale now-mind imagined it was falling intoa windowless room. The surface of the falling
lake was nearly flat; as it fell toward him, he leanedslowly into its conscious surface and looked beneath.
He saw his thoughts there like white salamanders.The wall shimmered with all the thoughts underneath.
But the lake was flat still and, running into its deepestparts, the thoughts left no lasting trace of their passing.
Then the pale lake's water itself became one solethought and, with mind and wall, came close to rest. [End Page 119]
[Originally published in VMI Beachcomber, 2017]