Reading a Book on Light and Vision While Listening to a Tape of John Cage

by Beebe Barksdale

I came to the last page,
found my next poem: The end
of evolution of the Eye in rabbits.

After filling a notebook of 8 x 11, I read
what I had written,
a mishmash of odd shapes,

including the meander and the spiral.
And in the middle of my muddle, a way-lighting spark.
Or a small place to start, a hurricane's shape, a rabbit eye.

Rabbits meander and that is how they fulfill
the directive of the Lord; to be fruitful and multiply. Yes!

And the world was filled with chaos because of the rabbit,
especially in Australia. Again, I read it.
I can find no way out.

I changed some words;
the part about the rabbits who
have pink eyes and pink hearts, like valentines.

This morning I woke up and read it again,
being self centered, put myself in.
I rehearse poetry making.

Copyright © Beebe Barksdale 2004