"Pastoral" by Bob Perelman

PASTORAL

One person each, out

Into one world, back into many.

The collection, the alphabet. He imitates

Its power, sentiments, antiquity. Scenery

In the form of a dramatic monolog.

She trails out of the present

Both ways, but is sitting

At the table with him. Sprays

Of bay, laurel, and their natural

Interpretations are tacked above them.

Hearts beating. A storm at sea.

Gossip at length, hours

Yoked together, sun shines,

Air presses on their capillaries,

Actions. Desire pronounced and

Punctuated, their minds end

In their senses. Pleasures

Lag across solid bridges.

Time to eat. Light is suffused, revised

Among the letters. Their ears fill

With sounds of the visible world.

Minutes surround them, trees

In the foreground by voice vote.

Their eyes close. It is night.

Source of the text – Bob Perelman, Primer.  Berkely: CA, THIS press, 1981, pp. 70-1.

Bourguignomicon: Pastoral as romance, no, perhaps as marriage between word & world, between writing & reading, & built of dualities: he-she, seeing-hearing.