Saturday commute cvii: And weren't we all, somehow, mistaken

   Those skeptics among us,

   that is, who doubted our

   mass transit systems' a-

   bility to generate pres-

   tige, for lack of a hood

   ornament.

   We haven't spoken enough

   about an egalitarian re-

   ality in nature. If any-

   one were to ask, why one

   is so blasé about equal-

   ity, possibly human life

   might be cited?

E.M. Forster

Maurice

op. posth.

1971

Joe Collier

Head count

    Heading into another

    American election cy-

    cle, we prepare to

    count the innocents

    who still take their

    place at the polls.

    Like rodeo riders,

    or wildlife restored

    to its habitat, we

    should think of as-

    signing them numbers

    or banding them. A

    fairer way of track-

    ing what becomes of

    their participation

    in this democracy,

    than looking at the

    people they empower.

A cup on the run

    The high pool is
    always steaming.
    What witch will
    rise up on the
    white sunset?
    What purple fo-
    liage will des-
    cend?






















Jean-François-Arthur Rimbaud
Les illuminations
  Fragments of Folio 12
  [fragment]
John Ashbery
  translation
op. cit.