Back Principles (14) : Keats & Rilke coming up again (& damned Spicer, too)
Who sees into me
… has mine heart?
Too easily tossed
(on a heap, on
a mound)
This inning is
future time
(grace time …?)
I would take
a pitcher
of you
Drink it, bat it
out of here
−−whatever
it takes
I lose myself
completely, am
struck dumb
in your
buddha
love
Where is my
ground, where
is my Heysus
spinning to
now
This (heady) gain
is nerve loss
(also)
It is mystery
one enters
−−terrified
(& possibly
alive …)
Witless &
spooked,
& unafraid
to say so
(god help
me)
Look in mine
eyes & give
me your
strength,
I have none
that doesn’t
shake the bases
loose in the
night
Look in mine
eyes, I have
forgotten how
to see
Back Principles (34) : spiritual fatigue
This is surely
spiritual fatigue
(on the loose)
(at loose ends)
Backed into a corner
(loosely speaking)
Back me, back
me not …
My back is knotted
Lies bound in a
locked drawer
When it creaks open
pray for something
merciful
Pray there is
something
there
You will not
have my back
beyond this
point
It will be loose
at ease, or it
will be
broken
Back Principles (52) : agoraphobic
Big spaces are
made of this
Phoenix to Yuma
−−terrifying
The christ to
the buddha …
terrifying too
Hold my back (pls)
the landscape
would break
it in halves
Agoraphobic,
big space
Holding emptiness
in my hands
Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet. His earlier work is known for its sassy, edgy, hip… caustic wit―indeed, for the askance look of the serious satirist… skewering what he calls the ‘vapid monoculture’ of our times. His more recent books have been called an incredible accomplishment for their authentic minimalist subtlety. Many are tightly sequenced book-length ‘serial’ poems, which allow for a rich echoing of cadence and image, building a wonderfully subtle, nuanced music. Bett follows in the avant tradition of Don Allen’s New American Poets. Hence the mandate for Simon Fraser University’s “Contemporary Literature Collection” to purchase and archive his “personal papers” for scholarly use. He is recently retired after a 31-year teaching career largely at Langara College in Vancouver, and now lives with his wife Katie in Victoria, BC. www.stephenbett.com
