Figures for a Hypothesis (Suite)

This book is a long poem.

1.

How far did we travel?
Till heart dried up.
Where did we start from?
A plan.
Where are we now?
Morningside. Aix. Mona.
What can words do that we haven't done?
Make a place. Then we can stop.
What is this place, if not a place to stop?
The yard is a loom; we begin with it.
To return? To begin again?
The model makes room for a setting out.
Why did we set out?
To get to a dialect.
Will there be one?
We know, after going through it, that there is.
Who else comes with us?
The yard is common: slave, poet, black.
And things? Do things go with us?
Bowl, fountain, vase, bird call, mirror, pigeon, cello, gravel, bed.
How did we choose what to take?
The yard gave them when we set out.
And people?
There are two of us on the trip.
Who is the slave?
A poet.
Who is the poet?
A black.
Who is the black?