fig (iterative)

time holds the wake dearly.

syllables congeal
into smooth stamped clauses
to translate the weather of a face,
hand.
bite, nail.

the vagrant and executive
never change
but grammatical lines are traversed
like ions across a circuit maze

between the sun and lately
i fast on roses
to eat the me in meaning is
an
i n g

must you tie my hands
to your book
bury my river with your sands,
to come up for water.

for language is more difficult
than space
more fluid
than the body
yet transparent against
the ground of