Bronwen Tate

 

AS WHEN A SINGER REACHES THE HIGHEST NOTE

THE SMALL PHRASE BEGAN TO APPEAR

CIRCUMSTANCES LEGIBLE BEHIND THIS WINDOW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AS WHEN A SINGER REACHES THE HIGHEST NOTE                    

 

 

boiseries                       amphitryons

 

 

                        calembours

 

            saum‰tres

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                            ŽcarquillŽs

 

 

                        bŽe

 

            bigre                platine

                        pion

 

 

 

                                                bagout


 

 

And she continues. Of rubies, of soap, of bronze. When you call a pun briny or brackish, I want to agree. I turn star-struck shell eyes towards the medieval ornamental forests, the wooden devices you indicate. Host to an amphitheatre of carelessness, you prefer a pawn, a parlor game, a mountain pass. IÕm with you. ŌThe boringĶ are elsewhere this evening, gaping at their neighborÕs platinum paneling. I listen to my own voice as if it came from elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SMALL PHRASE BEGAN TO APPEAR

 

joute                 bcher

            serti

 

                                    t‰tonner

 

 

 

 

            veilleuse

           

            ancolies

 

 

                                  charmille

 

 

    vessie

 

                                                commŽrage

 

 

                       

 

            soudoyer

 

 

 

 

Each singly gives me an earful, but IÕm unsure who suffers from complaints of the bladder, who searches for columbines in the bower. Neither balancing, nor falling, they fumble, refuse to be one or the other. Words set without soldering tilt at me. Is your left arm wounded all along? Are you winking? ItÕs easier to accept a bribe in a foreign tongue from a woman draped in venomous flowers. I will stay to dig through these layers of silt. The pot left on the back burner keeps vigil, the night-light keeps vigil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CIRCUMSTANCES LEGIBLE BEHIND THIS WINDOW

 

 

                                    sÕamoindrir

 

 

frileusement                              p‰mŽes

 

 

 

            bassesse            penaud

 

                                   

 

 

 

 

                        recŽleur                       recrudescence

 

 

 

 

                                                navrŽ

 

auge

 

 

 

 

                        pieuvre

 

 

What is raw in me again, burst blister, lambÕs lettuce. A fixedness to hang on syllables, frivolously, sleepily, huddled. All modifiers are contagious. All modifiers make me swoon in the direction of the sea, shipwrecked face in extremity. Without the residue of fixed habits, I loosen my gauge to make sweet the absences. Like a bassinet on a lower step, your voice  is a thing to rock side to side. Water diminishes in the basin as the days grow drier. I said guard and meant keep. Octopus, you are a fountain, one awkward part leading to another.