Spirit Cabinet [excerpt]
. . .
& how, o spirits, shall I invoke you, who cannot count himself
among the chosen?
My writings & keenings are interior & treated by appropriate
prescription drugs,
to whom my conversion is incomplete, for some days I devote myself
solely to my dead
& in my error I do seek them & do wail. From the wire mesh
I glimpse the chalk marks,
aflicker on a kind of slate. Here is the glyph of patchouli-smell,
graven on a scarf
or silken dress. & here the character for a chin nicked while shaving,
stubble edging a dime-sized birthmark,
. . .
Credit
Copyright © 2001 by David Wojahn. Reprinted by permission of University of Pittsburgh Press. All rights reserved.
Date Published
01/01/2001