Thursday, March 14, 2013

Fernando's Voyage


That Pessoa has 1,001 "fans" at GoodReads
seems a matter meriting mention in a poem
though numeric signs be principally evocative

(if the Thousand Nights & One Night of Arabia  
vaguely signify infinitude what good deeds 
get accomplished in the yammering of a yarn?)
might the writing life induce pure meditation?

or is thought forever wayward & untrained?
certain puzzles only time might deign to parse
(on the train of thought a vagabond could stow a
slender volume wherein heart is strangely brained)
you who fashion biblio-covers if you'd go a
certain ways into the utterance of Pessoa 
would you greet the cosmic bingo as did Noah? 

fashion a ship  sans need of welkin-hoisted sail
twain by twain they enter  rabbit tortoise snail


====================

for Netra Shyam

1 comment:

David Raphael Israel said...

If one seeks a metaphorical hook on which to hang the connection linking ultimate couplet with discursive poem, one might (for instance) allow:

The twains (whether hares, turtles, snails, or whatevers) could be likened to the varying pairs of eyes of the varying readers who, entering the "ship" of the book, together join the (Pessoan, or whatever-an) voyage.