Like Most Revelations, By RICHARD HOWARD

after Morris Louis

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.

From “Like Most Revelations” by Richard Howard (Pantheon: $20). 1994 Richard Howard. Reprinted by permission.