Partly. Rae Armantrout
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this rock,
its acrobatic performance
of momentum
run through
to the point of
distraction.
2
In this series,
sleeper agents
live our lives—
some version of our lives—
with (what might be)
this difference:
most of what they do
is feigned,
but not all.
That’s what keeps us
riveted.
Divisor
1
How pairs
of power lines
hold gray
interstates
between them
2
List of ways
the body
befriends the body:
strumming
the left toes
over the right
as if;
causing each finger
to touch its mate
and press.
It’s a good thing
the body’s
split.
The two sides
can make up
while the head
goes on
saying what it’s like
Life’s Work
1
Did I say I was a creature
of habit?
I meant the opposite.
I meant behavior
is a pile of clothes
I might or might not wear.
Before all the sowing and reaping
could go on for centuries,
before the calendar,
I must have been convinced
that my movements
were both mandated
and blessed.
2
I’ve never been an old woman
knitting by a fire,
but I’ve played one
in images
where it meant being foolish
or wise, a mistress
of distraction’s
indirection.
To rock while entwining
is life’s work,
but I am reckless,
restless
The Difficulty
This film, like many others,
claims we’ll enjoy life
now that we’ve come through
difficulties, dangers
so incredibly condensed
that they must be over.
If the hardship
was undergone by others,
we identified with them
and, if the danger was survived
by simpler life forms,
they’re included in this moment
when the credits roll
and we don’t know
when to stand
The Ether
We’re out
past the end
game where things
get fuzzy,
less thingy,
though in past times
we practiced
precision
concrete as a slot machine.
But to be precise
you need to stop
a moment
which turns out to be
impracticable
and besides
speed is of the essence.
Don’t worry.
“Of” can take care
of itself
and it’s fine
to say “essence”
now that it’s understood
to mean ether,
a kind of filler
made either
of inattention
or absorption
somewhere near
the Planck length
What We Can Say
1
“The traumatized rats practiced excessive self-grooming.”
Thinking is practice.
The idea that we can improve
is a form of self-grooming.
Adjusting to the rapidly changing orientations
of figures on a screen
can feel like having a succession of ideas,
each of which must be incorporated
into our current attitude.
To incorporate change without disorientation
is to win.
2
“Ideas link things in novel ways.”
We might say that music
attempts to make time
into space—visualizable, repeatable.
(We may have said this previously.)
Or we may say music
attempts to make space into time
so that between the current
stances of the musicians
there exists something like flow.
But there is really no direction
in comparison,
only the desire
that two entities
become one,
as if reduction in number
were the purpose
of