Friday, March 17, 2023

AMENDMENT TO WILLIAMS

Even in the hands 
of such a 
parsimonious doctor, 

form will still 
degrade 

and meaning 
must concentrate—

if only due to time's 
harsh-but-
vigorous erosion.

Such mutable things
as wheelbarrows 
and chickens 

might likely seem 
superfluous 
a chastened century later, 

and will never escape 
the omnipotence 
of erasure.

If he somehow 
knew then

all that we've
forgotten now, 

his most profound 
work, from beginning 
to end, 

might take up 
one line 

and read: 
"so much depends."