Of Being Numerous, 32

George Oppen

 
Only that it should be beautiful,
Only that it should be beautiful,
O, beautiful
Red green blue—the wet lips
Laughing
Or the curl of the white shell
And the beauty of women, the perfect tendons
Under the skin, the perfect life
That can twist in a flood
Of desire
Not truth but each other
The bright, bright skin, her hands wavering
In her incredible need
 
From New Collected Poems. Copyright © 2002 by Linda Oppen. Used with permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Poems by This Author

Discrete Series by George Oppen
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that smoke
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Me! he says, hand on his chest
Of Being Numerous, 12 by George Oppen
'In these explanations it is presumed that an experiencing
Of Being Numerous, 13 by George Oppen
unable to begin
Of Being Numerous, 15 by George Oppen
Chorus (androgynous): 'Find me
Of Being Numerous, 24 by George Oppen
In this nation
Of Being Numerous, 33 by George Oppen
Which is ours, which is ourselves,
Of Being Numerous, 40 by George Oppen
The capitol grows upon one in time
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what art and anti-art to lead us by the sharpness
Street by George Oppen
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Parked in the fields
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consciousness / in itself