Poem #4: First Cast on Delicate Water

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If, as Zen teaches, the rain falls on all,
he could not bear to leave it to
gunfire from the morons who seem to forget
to arrange them into two quatrains. Next, try to imagine
that this late in the year,

directly facing the elements, there is a gap below.
Aladdin found himself under the window
full of drawings and small sculptures that
often contain an observation, a snapshot, of nature.
I have an FM radio, and the car gets good

practice of meditation, which gives
affection. After some general conversation,
the Swedish decor is comforting, all red paneling.
There is no rule against including any number of feet;
For those who assume angling is

one that wards the danger off, how do we assume
the consternation of the vizier was extreme?
"What happened next?" I asked him.
Many poets have said, often ruefully, that
you have a problem making a first cast on delicate water.

[NOTE: this is a variation on French surrealist Andre Breton's 'Exquisite Corpse' technique. Here, I've chosen one line at random from five published works, also chosen at random, to complete a stanza, and repeated the process. The works used include, in order:
- "Awake and Demented", by Noelle Oxenhandler, published in Fall 2008 issue of Tricycle
- "Arabian Nights' Entertainments", translator unknown, publication circa 1890
- "The Time Traveler's Wife", by Audrey Niffennegger
- "Poetry as Spiritual Practice", by Robert McDowell
- "An Outside Chance: Classic & New Essays on Sport", by Thomas McGuane

"Words make love with one another." - A. Breton]
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