The Art of Not Being Descartes

(for Donna)

“What is all this?” must surely be a candidate

for the iniquitous ubiquitous first question

asked by sentient beings everywhere; well,

asked by those at least who dare to cleave

to their galactic versions of Cartesian reason:

you think therefore you are. From that self-serving

point of view, who else but you could be the star?

A star exploding into untoward elements which cool

on spinning orbs to sod: can Word be lurking far

behind, all ready to be Flesh, Body of the Letter?

How more neatly to suggest that thought is God?

(Harold Bloom says add the Odd and you have

something better: genius.) God is Phineas Fogg,

finding, naming, blaming worlds. Existence

is a language test. But you and I will shock the rest:

we’ll dock them in our pockets of resistance.

Like nests availing birds, we rest on other

than another’s words. I am the place you live.

You are the thing that lives there. What undergirds

this into grace? What theory does God have waiting

for us to remind us of our place? We don’t care.

I am where you live. You are who lives there.

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