by A. R. Ammons
unfertilized,
drained,
160soil-tight, knotted
up on little
means: but these
starvations have
planted me, shot
165up ascetically, on
the highest planes
isn’t that the
way it often is:
I am in a caste so
170high it is above
marking: only
below me do the
niceties of place
bulldog fury:
175inside, all I have
to spend is long
ing:
outside, I’m
blubbergutted and
180thunderbummed &
rutted with rows:
shoats are change
for the worse: I
languish claiming
185both weed and
field, if on
slightly altered
terms: (mutable
funds are a dime a
190dozen): (when you
say you don’t care
about anything it
probably means you
aren’t getting
195anywhere with what
you care about):
a-ha! a siege of
wisdomy parentheti
cals:
200– – – – – – – – –
the local grocery
assures us in a
big sign
that the MEAT CUT
205TERS will serve u
till 9pm everyday
isn’t that a
lot better than
BUTCHERS: and
210more accurate:
they
don’t slaughter,
they trim and
slice and present,
215it makes so much
difference, the
bloody aprons when
you are not the
KILLER: (you wd
220think anything
_________
as much a farce
as poetry is wd be
a farce but it
isn’t:
225strange): writing
a sonnet is like
digging a moat
around your
self, putting up
230a fence with that
briery slant at
the top or roils
of prickly wire,
with a few roving
235dogs loose, so
you can get some
sleep, from whom,
yourself? whereas
free verse
240lets the rats in,
the perimeter
breaks down, hole
s show where
beasts have broken
245through, the
moat dries or
fills: in the
sonnet, you drive
the world out but
250free verse drives
you out (in a
sense): it’s
better not to try
to do anything,
255like writing or
stuff: flow with
the go: love:
float: relax:
trust: be calm:
260no one is crashing
in: you don’t
need to crash out:
let your rigor
ride with the
265waves: shutting
in, shutting out,
who, what: I
guess we know:
separating
270the gruel from the
grain, high from
low, got from
gotless:
fine discrimination
275like incrimination
blah, blah:
people gotta live
– – – – – – – – –
YOU MIGHT KNOW
280– – – – – – – – –
a cold day in May
windy: they try
to get the tents
for the alumni up
285but a rise nearly
billows everybody
(and the stakes)
up, and then a
lull makes a bowl
_________
290from the skeletal
rim: they try till
they stand around
talking to the
tents flat on the
295ground: (Europe
is a few drops
spilled from the
pitcher of Asia):
– – – – – – – – –
300fellow said to me
how do I get whole
scenes, poems,
just like that:
I said it’s because
305I look at what I’m
seeing, har, har
– – – – – – – – –
BITS AND PIECES
* * * * * * * * *
310do you know why we
re always trying
to build up, keep
the kids off
the streets, bad
315words out of their
mouths, bad views
from their eyes,
and near unawareness
of sex: it’s
320because there’s
nothing else to
build: left
unconstructed, let
go, it all goes
325where it came from
– – under:
so we have to keep
trying to build
up and up is the
330only way we can
build: not built
up it never gets
up or stays up:
that’s why
335the tearers-down
are such rascals:
because there’s an
alternative to
that:
340*
my choice was at
first second and
second first:
pushed out of
345humanity,
which is first, I
chose nature as an
alternative, a
second, but once
350in second, I found
it first: I mean
on the farm, you
know: youth, for
me, was tools and
355the ground: the
ground was an
overwhelming
presence & potential
and the skinny
360tools, the rakes,
hoes, plows, axes,
mauls were riddled
of the ground: I
worked the soil,
365and the heavens
held or gave rain,
winds slashed or
cooled the squash
plants, hail pocked
370or sizzled weeds
and baccer leaves:
lines of beauty
run like arteries
through these many, the
375swoosh of blessings,
biddies spared
from the hawk, the
abominations of
chicks chilled
380numb by midnight
storms: alas, I
am such a cut-up
creature with
such a love, tho,
385a love, such a
love for what is
gone: it doesn’t
feel like sap but
like wires of
390light drawn out from
hell,
fire-spooled from hellfire
_________
##
not a bit of water
395hasn’t traveled
with a corpse or
kiss and all that
%
WEAK ENDS
400&
DON’T PUT IT IN
YOU CAN’T WALK IT
OFF
–
– – – – – – – –
405what, I sd to the
biologist, is the
squirrel looking
for: what, he sd
I said, what I
410mean is he comes
to the brick door
steps and slowly
slowly licks up &
down the mortar
415groove: calcium,
the biologist sd,
but said I, how
does the squirrel
know what calcium
420is or that he needs
it or where to
find it: how does
he know, how does
he know that:
425what we know floats
like a cardboard
box on an ocean we
don’t know: haha:
A
430FEW
SHORT
MOMENTS
nice triangle, hm
this stuff is
435stuffin: its use
is used up in fil
they say, to
make your life
pleasant, you
440should banish the
past and live in
the present: but
when you live in
the past you live
445in the present
because the past
cannot contemplate
the past: only
the present can
450involve the past
in itself: all is
present, including
what of the past
remains: history
455professors go to
work in the morning
on current buses
and squirm in the
immediate present
460because of childhood
breaks: why go on
well why not but
why (poetry is
filler) (filler is
465not always you know
who)
– –
no use to rush, we
have all the time
470in the world and
even more out of
it (more time than
we know what to do
with) ***********
475the earth is filled,
I mean the ground
itself is padded
with pain, it is
an absorption
480sponge where millions
of cries per gram
or square millimeter
are held in silence
where bleeding
485soldiers and raped
virgins, where
oily cancers and
erisypelas legs
have bled and all
490otted into a mush,
this very ground
we walk on, till,
and eat from:
everything has
495been turned over
over and over so
many times, how
can the dust blow
up again, how can
500the clear water
flow//
BAD OFF
how bad off is he
– – – – – – – – –
505OPEN MIKE AND SHUT
CASE
– – – – – – – – –
fix in the peri
pheral any
510particular and
what will it be
fixed to, parti
cular leaning to
particular, or if
515fixed,
more fixed,
force-fixed by the
mind, wdn’t
multiplicity’s
520weave ongoing
tear it loose
or should we
leave it to the
lone particular
525to wrench free the
weave sustaining
%
I looked out the
window and there
530was a house
finch singing on
the sill but
right then he
broke off and flew
535off, a wing-blur
fading in my head
&
a missing (tooth)
is better than
540no ----- at all
@
thrown so far off
to the side, what
I did didn’t
545matter:
irrelevancies,
tho, can dabble
in the essential,
whereas no one in
550the big time has
the time to or
loss of scope
))))))))))))))))))
Aunt Lar used to
555say—well—you
could tell her the
worst thing in the
world and—well—
she would say—we
560can’t pay the
mortgage—well—
somebody’s baby’s
got the what,
something—well—
565reminds me of this
mechanic at the
garage, your tires
are worn he says,
that’s what causes
570the vibrations:
no, it isn’t, I
say: ok, he says
I say the vibration
is causing the
575tires to wear
unevenly: ok, he
says: get a new
set of tires, he
says: I’ll get
580the ones I have
balanced and the
wheels aligned:
ok, he says: you
can’t catch him
585that way: he tries
to spend your
money, but if you
won’t let him, he
says, ok: I wdn’t
590trust him for a
sharp second, but
he can keep you
going all day with
that, that out:
595– – – – – – – – –
DUE TIME
– – – – – – – – –
the continents
drifting apart
600somewhere must, I
suppose, reassemble
another single big
island: who made
the worlds, or
605what, and why, and
how did we get
here on this pin
drop that weighs
so much it can
610keep turning so
long as for the
dinosaurs over a
hundred million
years, the ants
615going about their
duties 300 million
years, and we show
up at the last
minute thinking the
620whole thing made
for us, and here
it is now, almost
in our hands: so
unbelievable my
625chair almost rises
from the floor:
" " " " " " " " "
WEATHER PICTURE
– – – – – – – – –
630my wife says there
are so many niches
today where you
can make money:
such as: well,
635ethnic restaurants
or magazines, like
there’s a mag for
foster children:
wouldn’t work for
640poets, their niche
is no wider than
a crack in the
wall: the only
thing that could
645happen to them
there is to get
plastered over:
I know:
" # $ % _ & ' ( )
650RISING WATER
_____
_____________
THE BALLS GAME
__________________
so we go in the
side door of the
flea market
655this morning in
Owego and this
lady talking to
3 guys ends her
tale with a punch
660line—it’s not
the length it’s
the strength behind
it: ok: well—
there’s no
665business like
no business
ahem
old men say they
don’t want to live
670till they’re
decrepit, their
children or some
paid person has to
put them to bed &
675get them up: I
wonder if they
mean that—or
just some of
them do: there’s
680this old man, older
than Chaucer’s old
man, and he doesn’t
tap on Mother
Earth to get in:
685tho stooped with
his head below his
shoulders, he
inches from the
bus across the
690quad every morning
to get to the
linguistic bldg:
he stops sometimes
and lets steady
695work back into
him, and then his
satchel can’t
swing fast enough
(I think it’s
700mostly empty) to
keep up with his
short steps: he
wears a tam,
sometimes a rain
705coat: sometimes
the rain catches
him on the way
with no raincoat:
he doesn’t want to
710die: some mornings
a young woman is
with him: he
doesn’t seem to
mind the presence:
715he has to stop to
look up to talk to
her: then he goes
on—maybe he wants
to die: maybe the
720time came to die
& he passed it up:
/ / /
as you cross, the
boat loses
725occupants till
even the oarsman is
gone and there is
just you and the
light, and the bow
730touching the
other bank, and it
becomes as if
you never were, past
caring if you will
735ever be again, &
you draw a circle
around your
beginning and your
