The scree in the crevasse
              thaws an impasse
      for all but what descends

It started like this:
    A plain of yellow and green, 
                    supporting Conestogas.

The first day of the new year brings new additions to the public domain.

That was a pretty one, I heard you call
From the unsatisfactory hall
To the unsatisfactory room where I

It clings like a sheath-dress, 
this synthetic softness 
all of us wear in the office.

One morning the stove decided not to cook.
The children were startled.
The stove had always cooked—

 Yes, the zucchinis grow heavy and wicked,
and yes, a porcupine parses the orchard
one rummy apple at a time.

The things I saved up there—mantis legs, cat fur,
porcupine quills tied with twine. I thought
this was religion. To climb through leaves

Celan's,
meeting with Heidegger:
by John Felstiner's account

Their lives are turning into gold. The door
Bristles with brass, its own commissionaire—
A valedictory hand swims up