Aaron Fogel

FEATURED WORK
• Cobblestones
• P.S.

Cobblestones

The coffin, set up as coffins always are, near the grave, contained the father. The sentence, set up as sentences always are, on the page, contained the words. The meat package, set up as meat packages always are, with cellophane covering, contained the chops. The synagogue, set up as synagogues always are, for people, contained the rabbi. The classroom, set up as classrooms always are, for chairs, contained the professor. The coffin, set up as coffins always are, beside the grave, contained the mother. The word, set up as words always are, beyond hearing, contained the syllables. The prose, set up as prose always is, in census-rectangles, contained the phenomena. The nation, set up as nations always are, in questionnaire rooms, contained the sworn. The can, set up as cans always are, with ornate paper covers, contained the chicken o’noodle soup, with the circular noodles. Abacus, guitar, and quipu, set up as abacus, guitar and quipu always are, hieratically on notional strings, contained tobacco’s troubadours. The coffin, set up as coffins always are, next to the grave, contained the sister. The elegy, set up as elegies always are, dishonestly, contained the family. The steak, set up as steaks always are, artificially reddened, contained the fat. The rectangular venetian blinds, set up as rectangular venetian blinds always are, in the windowframe, contained the slats. The DNA, set up as DNA always is, in double helixes, contained the and. The word people, set up as the word people always is, in writing, contained the o.

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P.S.

P:The statistician and the poet need each other,
But not yet.

S:You need us now.
Without a theory of probability
To guide you –

P:Not the unguided but the unguarded moments
Are the most beautiful

S:Poetry is measure and measure now is population
All signs signify groupings: we count people.

P:There are nonmeasurable groupings that defy
Time and space and run wild as numbers

S:We call that Brownian motion, stochastic.

P:Stochastic rain, stochastic snow, the populace,
The monkeys who sleep in different groups each night
Unpredictable in the rain forest.

S:I seem to remember that image from the work of Cohen,
A statistician of monkey sleeping groups

P:This is the rain forest and it has no scientists
Only invaders, stripminers, depopulaters
The clever critic made a joke about the word
Depopulater and the sophomores laughed.

S:What you need isn’t the apocalypse but the apocalyx
Taking off the green shield of the flower
In whose middle you’ll find the new peopling

P:Number may be the sine qua non of lyric
But without number lyric is still lyric
Without number or the space or time it yields it is still lyric
But strip statistics of number and there is nothing

S:There is collective rhythm

P:The next dance then?

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