Robber. Spear. Ari. Yes.
1.
Ari is my best friend. Her name means yes in some other language.
I’ve forgotten which,
is it Urdu?She is silent on the telephone
my hand is in my pocket no my mouth no rubbing my eyes
It is too early for affirmations. The days are still dry and lazy.
in need of a narrator an anchor the spear moves too quickly the robber too stealthy
2.
I was already downstairs when the car arrived for us
mother sister me in the back seat the smell of a furniture store
cars pulled over to let us pass some people waved
others with hands to their heart
[tab20]anonymous vaunting triptych[/tab20]
[tab20]this is how we dispose of our dead[/tab20]
[tab50]irA! irA![/tab50]
[tab20]fugitives on the 107 perpendicular to the ocean[/tab20]
3.
[from 1977: the robber’s journal]
The rhythm of the train marks the passing of time. The beating of steel on stone (hearts), pulses of light through grates in the freight car wall.
It is too early for affirmations.
“Go easy. Go free.”
irA, irA, irA, no, I will not. This is no place for language.
Something huge has happened and I’ve missed it.
4.
Robber. Spear. Ari. Yes.
Some questions and fewer answers:
[tab10]Where has the spear landed? From whom has the robber taken, and what?[/tab10]
[tab10]I need _______ from _______[/tab10]
[tab10]before I can return to the salt parameters[/tab10]
[tab10]that have eaten his edges from within[/tab10]
[tab10]His former proportions no long apply[/tab10]
[tab20]and yet how gracefully the ribcage describes curvature[/tab20]
5.
Hypotheticals, counterfactually:
That you never died and _______
and I feel _______ felt _______ in place of loss. irA! irA! irA!
Thank you, robber, my father.
6.
[from 1977: the robber’s journal]
Sometimes I feel there is a direction things should take and that mud exists only for the lotus to blossom. All I want to touch are things out of reach or dead. There are things the dead would rather do than restore me. My hands are dry.
Ari is silent on the telephone and miles from me
while my robber rots in a lilac room.
7.
Can we divide all things into categories of extensions and containers?
Extensions designed with the human body as the point of contact.
The Spear. Telephones.
The wheelbarrow, glazed with chicken water, was it?
8.
The spear
[tab15]Obsidian grief[/tab15] [tab30]The augur,[/tab30]
[tab15]beneath greenery[/tab15] [tab30]my father,[/tab30]
[tab15]between thieveries,[/tab15] [tab30]bequeathed[/tab30]
[tab15]the delicate spear[/tab15] [tab30]to the robber:[/tab30]
[tab15]of the sprout.[/tab15] [tab30]he found another[/tab30]
way out
9.
Containers of morphine, dexamethasone, dolasetron.
Promethazine eating the liver as punishment for -------
[from 2006: a post-it note left behind by the robber]
Dr. Lee March 13th (3 days before his birthday)
Dr. Van Zanten grastro [sic] 11:30 consultation
11th floor Victoria building
monrotmoi aolltimo loostayl
[tab20]irA! irA![/tab20]
[tab20]This is where language is lost.[/tab20]
[tab20]Easy, go free. Go.[/tab20]
10.
Where has the spear landed?
No, no.
Robber, I’ve lost so much to you.
