Three Poems at the Autumn Equinox by Gerrit Lansing and Kenneth Irby

Gerrit Lansing
EQUINOCTIALL
It was to the bottom of herself the shadow sank,
where whirling stilled,
where nothing was realled!
It was not in"iting e"en,
was no onnetion made
to anything abo"e that wants to fall
until the end of falling be assured
and e"ening ome and no"el stars!
In all this no referene to signature
or differene made betwixt
the former fool and latter lo"e
whose shades dressed by eremony#s light
as on the last full day of summer
$oin in one figure, sarabande,
to hail rebirth of haos# brother%
his oming forth by night
em&owered by lateny long foreboding
in harmony of underground
where husks sightless walk as stones at noon!
Kenneth Irby
EQUINOX POEM
The sight at any moment
is as om&lete as the heart is
weight against that feather
in the balane of to'be, $udgement
already, always, and after death
Thoth#s measuring of time and soul
the body s&ae within, these organs
that do not see but feel our way
by heat and rush of blood
down their dark
.
The light rises in us, to the eyes
losed
as it falls aslant
a new season, the &resent moment
of the eternity of seasons
or in the lea"es of the walnut tree
not $ust shifted by the wind
the ertainty of knowing the slant of light
autumn
the ertainty of knowing the &hysiognomy
Tibetan, in the &hotogra&h Eileen asked me how I knew
wasn#t Amerian Indian
to an afternoon
omes the &ere&tion awash
.
(aked but for her &anties
tits down on the &orh
her body as I had always
stri&&ed it in imagining
goose&im&les along the u&&er arms
and down the small of the bak
a limit of light, to enter
only by our eyes, and what we eat)
fingers along the goose&im&les
would raise my own goose&im&les
and an instant hardon
in whih ase
*+,-K the light and gi"e me the .A(*
/hao wrote in his letter
in whih ase
a man is his notion of the light
Kenneth Irby
[equinox variations 0 by te si!!s o" te exquisite "!exib!e #oors$%
&etunia midnight &ur&le throat
a life to share, more than, lit by, e"er
rushed tomato "ines ahead, burr of stramonium, hands unburying &otatoes
kisses of a&sium, ni fits onquered, ome and gone
the way out &ast what isn#t e"er guessed for
like
de&endene
egg&lant star eyes
/olanaeae heart glow
.
grass ! well ! &iano keys % not glass or mirror sryed
but yoke ! yoga % shouldered dark and light
.
leaning o"er, staring into the grass, into the &iano &layer bending o"er the keys &laying
into the Limbus
not to see anything but squarely take the yoke of light and dark
hrysanthemum, &etunia, ottonwood hold out and in, suh yoga the lear "oie tells
is numbering
adding u& your breathing in the dark against my bak, the blades of grass, the shadows
of the blades of grass
-o&yright 1 Gerrit Lansing, Heavenly Tree, Northern Earth. (orth Atlanti 2ooks, 2erkeley, 3445!
-o&yright 1 Kenneth Irby, The Intent On. (orth Atlanti 2ooks, 3445!