The Poem

They leave you up there he said calling you names
As it gets dark remember for you’ve had the experience
Retaining barely a consciousness the body’d shrink away
But there’s only exposure the necessary fasting you are
     seen
They want to watch you all humans being empathic
     predators

And then I said when there is no conventional body
And little recognition of forms as in a violently painful
     half-sleep
You become your other after they have had you like a feast
This is done everywhere in many ways often subtly in an
     instant

You may so be done away with I had seen the impossibility
Of living with others yet loving for that was my condition
At the crossroads when they asked me to partake of rules
     as in
A commune of pretension I left unruly
Who stands by me now he or I say and I said last night
Holding the world together by my total recall
At anyone’s distress they are so sorry sounding like
     pigeons
They who call themselves poets and have no letters