A Poem by Jesse Seldess

from Left Having

 

 

Which would not be grown together

 

 

That one foot now is one foot then

And would not be grouped further

 

Regardless of the research that had been done

 

 

But what happened was further

And would not be grouped together

 

That what happened would not be further

And would not be grouped together

 

And further

 

Churning around with everything else

That could not be grouped together

 

That had a name called in the cold air

Regardless of the distance left rising further

 

Regardless the insistence left rising further

 

 

And a name was called in the cold air

Regardless the distance of the sun

Left rising again further and unraveling further

 

And names were called in the cold air

Regardless of the distance from the sun

Left rising further and unraveling further

And one name now was one name then

 

And they unraveled further and further

From their names left rising in the cold air

 

And names were left rising and unraveling

Or names left rising and unraveling in the cold air

Or names called either in the winter air

Which left them rising and unraveling

And they unraveled further and further

 

Or the phone ringing or by writing it down

 

 

 

 

Which words are strung together

 

 

 

When words are strung together

 

Stringing the words together to keep warm

 

 

Or by writing strings the words together

 

 

Or my writing strings the words together

 

 

 

If I left the ending for you

 

 

 

 

And not stopping but the echo answering

 

 

 

In the one room

And not stopping when it really stopped

 

 

Rising which left steam dissipating

 

 

Which left an echo

And had been called either in the cold winter air

Appearing with each syllable

 

 

To another region to be left behind

 

 

 

That a line had been written

Or that a foot left an impact on the ground

 

From everything else

The ending that churned around with everything else

And it was further and further behind

That a line had been written to describe the ending

 

 

Growing colder when further and further

And it was further and further behind

 

 

That describe the ending

 

The ending that churned around with everything else

At a safe distance from everything else

 

 

And while speaking out a focused world

 

 

 

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Jesse Seldess recently relocated to Brooklyn from Karlsruhe, Germany. He is the author of two books, Left Having (Kenning Editions, 2011) and Who Opens (Kenning Editions, 2006), as well as chapbooks on Hand Held Editions, Instance Press, Answer Tag Press, and the Chicago Poetry Project Press. His work has recently appeared in the journals Jacket, Little Red Leaves, and out of nothing. Since 2001, he has edited and published Antennae (http://www.antennae-journal.com), a journal of experimental writing and language-based performance and music scores.

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