LUCY IVES
from ANAMNESIS
i
Write, "What you fear is near to you"
Cross this out
Write, "What you fear is faraway"
Beautifully so
Yes, also, it is hidden
Write, "And never came near, this long decade"
Cross this out
ii
I had forgotten I was in love
It took a longer time to be remembered
Elsewhere
In the world
All this is just writing about what has been lost
By a person who wanted no things
About whom nothing is known save
What remains published
She gets up and goes to work harder
It is literally there, these
Words are the feelings of a rabbit
As it knelt and was still in drypoint
These are the words of the flag
As it dressed the pine wood coffin
Beloved it looked to that crowd
They are the hillside momentarily in that photograph
Write, "You look away from me and what happens next"
Cross this out
iii
Write, "Nothing was not interchangeable"
Write, "How to know what should be the best"
Cross everything out
Count every single syllable
When this hour has gone, never know it
Never let life yield
Naught but an identity
Stay always together, always be here
Always be
She was relaxin', for example
Cross this out
iv
What you did was wrong
Cross this out
What you did was right
You can write again about the tiger that fed itself
A great mystery
The owl that stepped forward one step
Cross out "tiger," write, "present"
It goes on the cover of another book
What are you so depressed about?
Cross this out
v
Write, "Directions for falling asleep"
Write, "One, A person cannot live without sleep"
Cross this out
Write, "I could not stop yelling"
Nothing brought before me would console me
Until I remembered
Cross all this out
Competition is the best
Cross this out
Write, "No one had thought over having this community"
And a little doll spun on my finger
Sweet! you said, taking out your wallet
Dinner was over
Cross this out
vi
Also I had become accessible
I drew a line under this sentence and went to show it to
one very dear friend
Cross this out
No one was there
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Write, "You are permitted to write one last sentence"
Cross this out
This is how we know it is over, permission has ended
A dream you had when you swore something about
Sports
A green field
A planet on which, which drew to itself sunsets
Write, "Two red birds I could touch these and say, yes let's keep
on living"
Cross this out
vii
Wired to adore I lay out across
The snowy field
The green carpet
I picked messages up like
These were leaves
I was good at it
And ok
And in despair
And filled with hate
Cross this out
Write, "Walk across the room"
Stop typing
Cross this out