7. FLAG
As lovely as an army with banners-
The women who are not here.
The heart lifts at the flap of a rag,
A something feminine, pinned to a line.
A block of sun. A block of shadow.
The block of sun in the shape of an adze.
Multiplied by walls and walls
The flap of a flag,
the tick, tick, tick
Of an old breech-loader
An oiled procedure:
Cartridge out. cartridge in.
Waiting for the tread of the soldiers
Out of the shadow into the sun,
Out of the shadow into the sun,
Out of the shadow into the sun...
8. BEADS
This is a way of finding the brain’s
capacity when the brain is gone
(Eaten by worms):
You fill the skull
With tiny glass beads then pour them out
Through a funnel into a measuring jug.
How the stream rustles.
How the stream shines.
9. ALHAMBRA
The dragons of Islamic art
Twist and coil like a map of the brain.
The human brain is built in layers
Around its basic reptile stem.
We’re dinosaurs that have been recycled.
Nothing is lost. All things return-
Not in the same configurations.
See. Among the immortal stars-
(It was the Pole Star, will be again)-
Alpha Draconis