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6 Jul: "Black Earth" by Marianne Moore

Black Earth

Openly, yes, 
         With the naturalness 
         Of the hippopotamus or the alligator 
When it climbs out on the bank to experience the 

Sun, I do these 
Things which I do, which please 
         No one but myself.  Now I breathe and now I am sub- 
         Merged; the blemishes stand up and shout when the object 

In view was a 
Renaissance; shall I say 
         The contrary?  The sediment of the river which 
         Encrusts my joints, makes me very gray but I am used 

To it, it may 
Remain there; do away 
         With it and I am myself done away with, for the 
         Patina of circumstance can but enrich what was 

There to begin 
With.  This elephant skin 
         Which I inhabit, fibered over like the shell of 
         The coco-nut, this piece of black glass through which no light 

Can filter—cut 
Into checkers by rut 
         Upon rut of unpreventable experience— 
         It is a manual for the peanut-tongued and the 

Hairy toed.  Black 
But beautiful, my back 
         Is full of the history of power.  Of power?  What 
         Is powerful and what is not?  My soul shall never 

Be cut into 
By a wooden spear; through- 
         Out childhood to the present time, the unity of 
         Life and death has been expressed by the circumference 

Described by my 
Trunk; nevertheless, I 
         Perceive feats of strength to be inexplicable after 
         All; and I am on my guard; external poise, it 

Has its centre 
Well nurtured—we know 
         Where—in pride, but spiritual poise, it has its centre where ? 
         My ears are sensitized to more than the sound of 

The wind.  I see 
And I hear, unlike the 
         Wandlike body of which one hears so much, which was made 
         To see and not to see; to hear and not to hear, 

That tree trunk without   
Roots, accustomed to shout 
         Its own thoughts to itself like a shell, maintained intact   
         By who knows what strange pressure of the  atmosphere; that   

Spiritual   
Brother to the coral 
         Plant, absorbed into which, the equable sapphire light 
         Becomes a nebulous green.  The I of each is to 

The I of each, 
A kind of fretful speech 
         Which sets a limit on itself; the elephant is? 
         Black earth preceded by a tendril?  It is to that 

Phenomenon 
The above formation,   
         Translucent like the atmosphere—a cortex merely— 
         That on which darts cannot strike decisively the first 

Time, a substance 
Needful as an instance 
         Of the indestructibility of matter; it   
         Has looked at the electricity and at the earth- 

Quake and is still 
Here; the name means thick.  Will 
         Depth be depth, thick skin be thick, to one who can see no 
         Beautiful element of unreason under it?

1 comment:

  1. I'm pretty impressed by Ms. Moore. She seems to be not just a great writer, but intelligent too.

    ReplyDelete