May Swenson(1913–1989)
Cardinal Ideograms
A mouth. Can blow or breathe,
be funnel, or Hello.
A grass blade or a cut.
A question seated. And a proud
bird's neck.
Shallow mitten for two-fingered hand.
Three-cornered hut
on one stilt. Sometimes built
so the roof gapes.
A policeman. Polite.
Wearing visored cap.
O unrolling,
tape of ambiguous length
on which is written the mystery
of everything curly.
A step,
detached from its stair.
The universe in diagram:
A cosmic hourglass.
8 (Note enigmatic shape,
absence of any valve of origin,
how end overlaps beginning.)
Unknotted like a shoelace
and whipped back and forth,
can serve as a model of time.
Lorgnette for the right eye.
In England or if you are Alice2
the stem is on the left.
A grass blade or a cut.
companioned by a mouth.
Open Open. Shut Shut.