“The Figure of a Man Being Swallowed by a Fish”

is not a man being swallowed by a fish with eyes like eight-point throwing stars it’s a man being swallowed by a war a man being taken into the mouth of a woman or being swallowed by his work it’s a man traveling far inside a book a man being swallowed up in smoke he swallows the smoke, that blends around him like a thought it’s a man being swallowed by a sound he shapes it so he lives inside a song of a man being swallowed by his kin, his skin a man being swallowed by the State (Leviathan in 1948) It’s a man being swallowed by another man literally, eaten as a pathway to god it’s a man being swallowed by a sight he cannot reach, cannot touch, cannot trace it’s a man who won’t recognize his face who can’t fit the parts, or find the place it’s a man in triumph over death who laughs and beats the dust from his clothes a man tasting dust inside the laugh it’s a man who listens to the clock a man with nothing to exchange a rude man, his twin he leaves behind it’s a man who wants to be a bride a man being swallowed by his fault with something old to show and new to hide it’s a man who tries to haul the rope a man who stooping can’t provide a man who can’t forget his name it’s a man who doesn’t know his worth it’s a man being swallowed by his wrath his youth, yield, luck, the law, his fear, the fog, his fame it’s a man being swallowed by a coat his father’s coat, he smells of the fit a man being swallowed by his vows it’s a man softly squeezing for the vein he never finds it, he’s minding the road it’s a man being swallowed by a room in which he finds a man being swallowed by a fish it’s a man who thinks what’s in a man who exits into night at closing time the figure of a man being swallowed by a fish.