The Poem

They leave you up there he said calling you names
As it gets dark remember for you’ve had the experience
Retaining barely a consciousness the body’d shrink away
But there’s only exposure the necessary fasting you are
     seen
They want to watch you all humans being empathic
     predators

And then I said when there is no conventional body
And little recognition of forms as in a violently painful
     half-sleep
You become your other after they have had you like a feast
This is done everywhere in many ways often subtly in an
     instant

You may so be done away with I had seen the impossibility
Of living with others yet loving for that was my condition
At the crossroads when they asked me to partake of rules
     as in
A commune of pretension I left unruly
Who stands by me now he or I say and I said last night
Holding the world together by my total recall
At anyone’s distress they are so sorry sounding like
     pigeons
They who call themselves poets and have no letters

Copyright © 2016 Alice Notley. Used with permission of the author.