<i> from </i> Cold Rivets, by Jerome Rothenberg
COLD RIVETS
Third Year syllabus.
OLD AGE
Stand by the wall.
Sit at the window.
At the scene of the crime.
ECLIPSE
A foot stands in the doorway.
THE DAY OF REST
A bonfire.
Howls or shrieks of joy.
A MORAL COWARD
He eats a cold meal in the evening.
BLOOD CLOT
A pebble.
Broken flint.
The art of driving.
TORPOR
At the point of death.
A LITTLE MAN
Sweat rolling off
his forehead, raining
on the priest.
THIEVES
With solemn manners.
Hooks set in squares.
THE WHIP
This wall obstructs the view.
From “Gematria” by Jerome Rothenberg. (Sun & Moon : $11.95; 166 pp.) Jerome Rothenberg teaches at the University of California, San Diego. “Gematria” refers to a form of traditional Jewish numerology, in which every letter of the Hebrew alphabet is also a number. 1994 Reprinted by permission.