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CONTRA MORTEM: THE BEING AS MEMORY, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: A carpet raveling on the loom a girl
Last Line: And died a carpet raveling on the loom
Subject(s): Memory


A carpet raveling on the loom a girl
with a widowspeak and misty legs a moon
like a fisheye rising from a pool
a black longwinging loon
bursting afire in the sunset a torn sail
groveling in a wave a whisper in a stairwell
a helmet upturned in the black rain
and later a star reflected like a coin
glimmering on seastones a sound of motors
and machineguns
in the dawn a kiss and candleflame a sonata
for clarinet a bone cracking a woman
wearing a blue veil and in kashan in a room
where the little darkeyed weaving girls lay down
and died a carpet raveling on a loom.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




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