paradise is not a gift, it is an offering
for Ernesto Cardenal, on reading The Origin of Species and Other Poems
1
he came, not
from nowhere, saying
revolution now
revolution —
now
turn turn turn
and, turning, walk
the walk as though you
mean it
2
writing to a circle
of his friends, Paul
said of another
we’re fucked
if he did not rise
his editors cleaned this up
so there would be no danger
of someone taking offense
if we read it when
there were children
in church. suffer
the little children who
know if there is no
danger, there is no
possibility. Saul,
Saul, can’t you see
we’re fucked whether he
did or did not?
every one of us is
falling. but if one falling
rises, all
rise. all rise.
turn turn turn
and, turning, walk
the walk because you mean it.
3
every single one of us is
still rising from a single
cell learning to walk
on water — but all
fall, and we crawl
before (learning
to walk) we rise
again again again
and again.
4
not one
word.
if Anna’s cruel age
taught us nothing
else, it taught us
what is bad is being
sure we know
what we
have
is final
i can’t say
if cats name
names, but i know
they know a name when
they hear it — and i can say
most of what i know was
named before i came
to know it. still,
i know a named when
a fitting name is spoken
5
in this silver blue
lake, serene,
i think blue mountains
the silver of the mirror lake
6
Ernesto, a cosmos
filled with white
holes making Lebensraum
chills me. nothing
matters more
than emptiness
when it comes to light.
7
i think the bison
on the wall
stood
for bison on the wall
and children playing know
that is good. that is very good.
8
why not a bus
with a sign that says
Delphos and means what it says,
or an insect nothing
but a salamander
snack
that leaves
nothing but a wall
right where it belongs?
9
a bus is as good a way as
any to see years ago
pink girl, in blue
in Alabama or Virginia
on a ladder plucking apples
the sister, blue too, painting white
on the facade gazing at time passing
the white painting still fresh
the brush dripping
the hand on the apple
the gaze. on the bus
or off, the state forgotten
Malcolm knew, not
the facade
10
entre el cristianismo y revolución no hay contradicción
turn turn turn, and turning walk the walk
because you mean it
reviewed by Steven Schroeder, Chicago
Ernesto Cardenal. The Origin of Species and Other Poems. Translated by John Lyons. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-89672-689-5.