January Begins by Carolyn McCurdie

For New Year I wish you

Janus, the god who looks forward

and back, till his pupils dilate, intoxication

of distance. On your calendar it�s his month.

Here is the photo he hangs on your wall:

salt caravans in Niger,

from a paraglider, so high that camels

seem strung as if notes on scribbled staves of song.

On the horizon, a thin sprinkle like fire-blackened grain:

another caravan. One way

ALWAYS ALMOST, NEVER QUITE by David Howard

at home ?in the interpreted world

-
Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies I





1





The tree on the slope is contingent upon
your voice.

I hear nothing so the tree won�t bend �

I need that tree to bend.



The horizon does not want poetry to keep
going.

Intention? No star meant to be admired and yet�

Praise is impossible without doubt, ask a
teenager.



The