You know  when you write  poetry  you find
   the architecture    of your lineage     your teachers
like Robert Duncan for me   gave me some glue   for the heart
Beats   which gave confidence
and competition
to the    Images    of Perfection

. . . or as dinner approaches    I become hasty
do I mean PERFECTION?

September 17, 1986

reprinted from Just Space: poems, 1979-1989, Black Sparrow Press, 1991