Poem

The Hastily Assembled Angel on Embodiment

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(being a recapitulation of the “Fresh Eyes for a Fresh World” sections of Sometimes I Never Suffered)

The hastily assembled angel’s sure he never Before he had a body had a body How could he have….. though he….. thinks he remembers Watching the other angels build him from above the

Parts they were hammering together were Folding together stapling….. together paper- clipping together nobody….. yet living where Staples and paperclips would come from paper

To fold….. but hammers always were and things To strike bodies….. to strike except for his Which he’s sure….. could not have been Before it was….. but he recalls an eminence

As if he once had been a spotlight’s beam Shining from somewhere in a medium-sized City….. untraceable and from Which the place takes its mystery….. to whom does

The spotlight call….. and from where does it call And does the pillar of light emanate From the shadowy machine beaming….. from tall Grass or a parking lot….. amidst low-mileage late-

Model used cars….. or does the pillar of Light emanate instead from the heaven It brightens and does not explain….. the oth- er angels when they built him

Built him so hurriedly he never had the Chance to ask them questions….. not Good questions not….. the questions anybody Might as they watched their body built beneath them….. ask like What

Is happening he….. thinks he might have asked Like Help….. he thinks he might have asked Why am I So high why can’t I kneel and make With you whatever you’re….. making the hastily assembled

Angel is sure….. he saw the tops of the other an- gel’s heads before he saw their bodies Before he saw their hands Shaking like the hands of humans when….. humans are pleading

Though at the time he knew Nothing he could compare the shaking to