Poem
(for Jean Varda)

I apostrophize

panoplies & processions
caryatids with their sad hearts
& breasts of porphyry
all impossible carmines & ochres
nightingales in robes woven
of gelatin
agile prayers which dance in
the eyes of needles
flutes, elopements
the limbs of gazelles on lurid voyages

glass ladders, flagons, the riotous
disorder of stamens
nude pianos
flowers which walk on streams
bright hair
the wounds of alphabets

& most of all that Magician in velvet
who relieves us of rancid egoism
& the torture of ingrown pronouns.