dogfish, sunrise, vultures, the fish

the beginning of dog fish

“Some kind of relaxed and beautiful thing… looking around”

the stanza about wanting to leave the past

“I wanted/ the past to go away, i wanted/ to leave it…. I wanted/ to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know/ whoever i was, i was/ alive/ for a little while.”

the one about the body of the dogfish

“effortless, the whole body/ one gesture, one black sleeve/ that could easily fit around/ the bodies of three small fish”

the one about surviving

“it’s the same old story/ a few people just trying/ one way or another/to survive.”

the one about swimming through fire

“and nobody gets out of it, having to/ swim through the fires to stay in/ this world”

the one about the hopeless future

“the hopeless future that is/ bulging toward them./ And probably/ if they don’t waste time/ looking for an easier world/ they can do it”

the sunrise beginning stanza

“You can/ die for it/ an idea/ or the world.”

the two sun descriptions

“an unforgettable/ fury of light… the familiar/ fabric of dawn”

the one about the sun for everyone

“and i thought/ how the sun/ blazes/ for everyone just/ so joyfully/ as it rises”

the stanza about what is the name

“and i thought/ I am so many!/ What is my name?/ What is the name/ of the deep breath I would take/ over and over/ for all of us?”

the one about what to call the sun

“Call it/ whatever you want, it is/ happiness, it is another one/ of the ways to enter/ fire”

the description of the vultures

“Like large dark/ lazy/ butterflies”

the one about three things vultures do

“to eat it/ to make it vanish/ to make of it the miracle:/ resurrection”

the one about earths appetite

“no one/ counts how many bodies/ they discover… demonstrating/ each time the earth’s/ appetite, the unending/ waterfalls of change.”

the one about the huddle of death

“however wise the doctrine… however ultimately sweet/ the huddle of death to fuel/ those powerful wings”

the one about the burning of air

“flailed and sucked/ at the burning/ amazement of the air/ and died”

the stanza about being the fish

“Now the sea/ is in me: I am the fish, the fish/ glitters in me; we are/ risen, tangled together, certain to fall/ back to the sea.”

the one about fish pain

“Out of pain/ and pain, and more pain/ we feed this feverish plot, we are nourished/ by the mystery.”