aroundabout

It was not a poem,
     in one sense,
it was a meta-poem,
          a poem about poetry,
although the term “meta-”
     comes from the Greek word “after”,
because Aristotle’s books on
          metaphysics
were those written after
          his books on physics.
Thus the word “meta-”
     took on a life of its own.

So was it a poem about poetry,
     or was it a poem after poetry?
In the South—southern United States—
we say when someone is after someone,
     they are out to get them,
that is when they are after them
     they means them harm.
So was it a poem out to get
                    poetry,
     to do poetry irreparable harm?

Of course, then there is the idea “after”—
what is poetry if it comes after poetry,
is it still poetry?
is it more poetry?
Why isn’t it with poetry to begin with,
why does it come after?

If it is a poem written after a poem—
is that plagiarism?
isn’t that copying someone else’s
          style?
isn’t that what it means: done after
          Ezra Pound’s “Cantos”?
So who is the poem copying anyway?

And if it wasn’t really a poem,
     but a meta-poem,
what was it: prose? a song?
     a legal treatise on thirteenth century
                    Burgundy?

If it wasn’t a poem,
     what was it after?

“Naked,”

Naked,
like the heart is naked
    when it admits
            to the soul beneath
        that it is on fire—
    together,
        they overwhelm the mind.
A nakedness
        of longing.
A nakedness of desire.

And this is how I long to see you,
        to hold you,
    to touch you,
with every touch
        a touch
    of desire.

This love
    is not for the weak
        but for the strong—
for when the soul whispers—naked—
it burns and sears and turns and touches
every aspect
        of one's life.

Naked,
is how I long to see you
        and be with you
    in heart, soul, mind,
as I caress
each and every part
        of you—
no, nothing, nothing
    undesired.

Fear of nihilism

Another data point: fear of nihilism is a potent motivator of conservative religious and political beliefs.