IX

Casual images ----

Collected from random moments,

Carelessly assembled

In spiral pocket pads,

Letters striking paper

Like raindrops

Forming pools of words ---

Streams of meaning ----

Cresting along the edges of consciousness

Receding into words

Once the moments pass;

All associations with the words

Evaporate, while skeletons of feeling

Still remain

Like prehistoric riddles of the past;

And we must guess

What flesh gave the fossil outlines life.