Mark Strand:
"Coming to This"
We have doen what we wanted.
We have discarded dreams, preferring the heavy industry
of each other, and we have welcomed grief
and called ruin the impossible habit to break.
And now we are here.
The dinner is ready and we cannot eat.
The meat sits in the white lake of its dish.
The wine waits.
Coming to this
has its rewards: nothing is promised, nothing is taken away.
We have no heart or saving grace,
no palce to go, no reason to remain.
"School Bell"
We show up for the bell.
We leave when it rings
or when we feel moved
and feel bored.
We sit in the room.
The class is starting and we cannot learn.
The distractions are all around.
Some are small and others are silent.
We show up for the bell
and it has possible rewards: money or fame.
We have no feelings or motivation,
no other place to roam, no true reason to stay.
This is a case in which you have stayed too tied to the triggering subject. You have remained too literally "in the classroom." As Hugo instructs, your job is to get "off subject." Let go of sense for the time being, and let's see what we can build.
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