To All Appearances A Lady - University of British Columbia

Robert
B r i n g h u r s t
Xuedou Zhongxian
There is no person. There are no words.
There is this moment, silent and speaking.
What seem to be beings are facets of time, reflections
permitted to dance in the light or to listen.
All eyes shine toward
one another; all eyes shine away.
What will your first words be, now that your last
have already been spoken?
Self-expression is easy. Expressing what is
is a little more difficult.
Orioles sing. The kingfisher chortles
and falls like an axe through a hole in the rain.
If you like, we could visit the one with the answers.
Each step is exactly halfway to her home.
The knife you must take has no tang and no handle,
the hammer no socket and shaft.
Standing invisibly in the hills,
walking inaudibly on the seafloor,
the one you can talk to will use
neither silence nor speech to reply.
There is only one way. It goes every direction.
The seventy joints of the body are knotholes
through which the turtles peer out of the river,
through which the sea-turtles enter the sea.
The circle is square,
and its corners are everywhere.
Carry your nostrils out into the woods with you,
one in each hand.
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