Like Most Revelations
It is the movement that incites the form,
discovered as a downward rapture--yes,
it is the movement that delights the form,
sustained by its own velocity. And yet
it is the movement that delays the form
while darkness slows and encumbers; in fact
it is the movement that betrays the form,
baffled in such toils of ease, until
it is the movement that deceives the form,
beguiling our attention--we supposed
it is the movement that achieves the form.
Were we mistaken? What does it matter if
it is the movement that negates the form?
Even though we give (give up) ourselves
to this mortal process of continuing,
it is the movement that creates the form.
Richard Howard
from The Best American Poetry 1992 ed. Charles Simic
Ed. Note: Richard Howard is one of the readers at tomorrow evening's gala reading for The Best American Poetry 2008 at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium (66 West 12 Street in New York) at 7 PM (Thusday, September 25, 2008). And it’s free.David Lehman, series editor of The Best American Poetry and poetry coordinator of the New School’s MFA program, will introduce poets chosen by Charles Wright for the 2008 volume, the 21st edition of the acclaimed annual anthology. Other readers include John Ashbery, Charles Bernstein, Ciaran Berry, Laura Cronk, D. Nurkse, Meghan O'Rourke, and Lee Upton.
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