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from Three Variations, All About Love, by Philip Whalen

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I love this poem so much I typed it in.


I.

So much to tell you
Not just that I love
There is so much more
You must hear and see

If I came to explain
It would do no good
Wordlessly nibbling your ear
Burying my face in your belly
All I would tell is you
And love; I must tell
Me, that I am a world
Containing more than love
Holding you and all your other
Lovers wherein you
And I are free from each other
A world that anyone can walk alone
Music, coathangers, the sea
Mountains,ink, trashy novels
Trees, pancakes, The Tokaido Road
The desert--it is yours

Refuse to see me!
Don't answer the door or the telephone
Fly off in a dragon-chariot
Forget you ever knew me

But wherever you are
Is a corner of me, San Juan Letran
Or Montreal,Brooklyn,
Or the Lion Gate

Under my skin at the Potala
Behind my eyes at Benares
Far in my shoulder at Port-au-Prince
Lifted in my palm

Anywhere you must be you
Drugged, drunk or mad
As old,as young, whatever you are
Living or dying the place will be me

And I alone the car that carries you away.
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Comments

  1. Michael K. GauseJune 14, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    Love it. Thanks for the poem and for now introducing me to Mr. Whalen.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RustyJune 14, 2011 at 4:17 PM

    It's such a great poem; I'd swear I'd read it before, but I have no Whalen in my collection except what I just bought.

    ReplyDelete

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