sw00322s-aw2.4poems

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 Accompaniments: Where There Is Room
       4 poems for W. S. Merwin
       written in my copy of his 1973 book:
       Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment




1

"As I Just Said"


one must

but then

there are times

oh

you know

don't you

leaf

in my hand


       (written on page 7 under "Looking Back")




2

"The Poem  (v3)"


Most of that day
he worked on it

auditioning words
selecting their places

from before the glare
till nearly midnight

wanting to stage
a perfect show

though he understood well
the wanderings of clouds

and Earth's inability 
to hold still


       (written on page 8 under "Song of a Man Chipping an Arrowhead")




3

"Chuck It"


No silence no nothing
cymbal clangs
cars trucks
skreeeee krawuge
bledding steel bleeding asphalt
stained windows   roaded

I am a harsh wind
in tan cornstalks
shivering cracking
a fist and claw
raking pummeling
I cannot stay


       (written on page 9 under "The Silence Before Harvest")




4

"Child"


Praise the leaf
as it turns

the ages
in your eyes


       (written on page 10 under "Cat Ghosts")
              [ "Child" was published in Wisconsin Review
                             volume 12   no. 4     1978 ]





Brian A. J. Salchert