So one of the things about the form that I want to play with
is the decay of carbon-14 and the sort of half life,
the half wise decay.
And so I wanted to play around with making a sonnet sort
of attenuate like that.
So this is what it looks like.
This is actually a caudated sonnet,
which means it's 22 lines instead of 14,
and it's sort of coming back.
I don't even quite know what it's doing yet,
but it's fun to play with.
So this is a poem for Stanley and it's called "Home."
I didn't expect to find this place here.
I was just walking, liquid breathing.
Home, lamplight, eyes closed.
Watch battery, home.
Plowing, turning over, tilt, table, test.
Falling, home.
Born, home.
Glass case.
Hearing aid.
Gold recliner.
Legal pad.
Desk blotter.
Voice box.
Daybook.
Yellow shirt, winding cloth.
Home.
Jefferson market Quinapoxet, comet, red snippers.
Home.
Green Street, Woodford Street, River Road, 9th, Pearl,
Commercial, Spring, 12th Street, River Terrace, home.
Index card.
Grass shank.
Quarry time back home.
Holes.
Home.
How did you find me?
Home.
Tachycardia, syncope, Juniper, cataract, angina, Jackhammer,
home.
Walker.
Whose house?
Home.
Old grief.
Home.
Have you seen my wife?
Fever, anemone, name, home.
Atropine, swallow reflex, water, eyedropper, home.
Friends dear.
Night dear.
Terror dear.
Rest.
Unrest.
Home.
Sponge bath.
Embarkation.
First word, last word, joy.
Home.
Not home.
Home.
Given a body, how far can you take it?
Outer shore, rush edge of the lake, quaking bog, kettle pond,
glacial pond, salt marsh, race.
The lake of your own body, sheets off you
as you step out of it.
Home.