Sign Inventory, Week2

A Poetry Calendar

I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn a page of the sea
throw away a tight-lipped dead clam

the day not quite dawn the beach white
a mother's barren womb a broken oar

I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn a page of the horizon
throw away a snake's too light slough

the day not quite dawn a useless parasol
the suspicious laugh cold fried food

I who wait for myself
I who don't appear
again today I turn the page of the sky
sweep together and throw away all the soot stardust

the day not quite dawn the grass full of hanging tears
I leaf and leaf through a calendar

yet I don't appear
I who wait for myself
world of imaginary numbers love without arms


1. The first three stanzas all begin the same way, but the third and fourth lines have variations.

2. The refrains all start the same way, but after the first two lines there are changes to the words.

3. The first major change happens in the last stanza. It is only three lines compared with four from the other stanzas.

4. The speaker changes the last stanza from "I who wait for myself" to "yet I don't appear I wait fro my self." There is a reverse from lines one and two.

5. There are no punctuation marks in the entire poem. Each line breaks without ending to create a feeling of openness.

6. In the refrains, the author uses huge spaces between words. It is the only time that the he creates this space throughout the poem.

7. All the stanzas begin with the same three lines, except for the third stanza, where it begins "sweep together" instead of throw away. But throw away is used later in the same line.

8. The third park of the refrain is very different each time. You have the white beach, useless parasol and grass full of hanging tears. The third item is very different, because it invokes a much different image.

9. In the final three lines, the objects become much more abstract. We go from leafing through a calendar to love without arms.

10. The idea that the speaker is not there is interesting, because the "I" is able turn the sky, sea and horizon.