<i> from</i> Baudelaire Series

A man undergoes pain sitting at a piano knowing thousands will die while he is playing

He has two thoughts about this If he should stop they would be free of pain

If he could get the notes right he would be free of pain In the second case the first thought would be erased

causing pain

It is this instance of playing

he would say to himself my eyes have grown hollow like yours

my head is enlarged though empty of thought

Such thoughts destroy music and this at least is good From “Sun” (North Point Press: $9.95 paperback; 96 pp.). Palmer, who lives in San Francisco, is the author of five previous books of poetry. “Baudelaire Series,” a sequence of 30 poems, is the largest of the six sections of the book. The title poem, “Sun,” was published to wide praise in Sulfur magazine earlier this year. 1988 by Michael Palmer. Reprinted by permission of North Point Press.