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PRIOR
JAMES BERGER
B L A Z E V O X [ B O O K S ]Buffalo, New York
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Prior by James BergerCopyright 2013
Published by BlazeVOX [books]
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without
the publishers written permission, except for brief quotations in reviews.
Printed in the United States of America
Interior design and typesetting by Geoffrey GatzaCover art: Kyoto Memories by Cynthia Beth Rubin.
First EditionISBN: 978-1-60964-131-3Library of Congress Control Number: 2012956021
BlazeVOX [books]
131 Euclid AveKenmore, NY 14217
Editor@blazevox.org
publ i she r o f we i rd l i t t l e books BlazeVOX [ books ]
blazevox.org
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In the Shape of Breathing
1.What have I lost
the whole fucking deal thats what
a questionto squelch
Whats the paucity?
the petition to regulategreen in dereliction
Whats the full tree?
full space, full ofopen, open.
Open. Open.
right earflickers large
sloppy
meticulous ringingclusters
nerving
the left eye the right eye
the middle handarm to the brain
relief from all that
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2.Old attempts fail
and the daughter leaves to crawltoward the mountains ruin
vacant stomachfrozen on a stalk
and bruisedas if here
as if not
as if not
material.
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3.The transcript is lost
shes collapsed on the floor
screaming, pounding the floor:where is it? why is it gone?
Its all I have,my fathers words.
The body is gone.The voice is gone.
The body is gone and the symbol is gone.
The graduation photo is lost the news clipping is lostthe story she wrote is lost the picture from the ski trip is lost
the transcript is lost.
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4.The body is gone and the symbol is gone
Language is sliding.
large territories bound groundslides all that
can beungrasped.
Nothing so direct as death?But dying
Theres a meander.
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5.Stop on the next stone
to reach an abstraction
A hum or a buzz stillthe mouth forms
a shape that unstates.
She returns to the volcano every day or so;life of the heavy footsteps,
parallel to the river, flat stones across the stream.Set forth, leave it.
Cross it; step across.
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6.We carry voices and place them on his body:
do we think were stationary
as he departs?
things press
things declare in the aggregate
monitors, precise sounds of obscure significance
she kisses him on the face, on the thin hair
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7.The body consumes itself
in every language
the bodys emptinessswollen
the door is burning
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8.sudden appearance of birds furiousshowers into manydarkening
how to runin a vestibule
at any time feeling you can wake up
by deciding to, justsaying,
Ive had enough,
let me move, let me breathe.
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10.Somewhere, someone is writing this.
There, when he stands or sits up,a newly mordant little creature lifts its paw,
explains why the boxes and the ceiling and the fires in the leaf pilesare so busy, what it feels like when the wind singes
his fathers eyelashes.
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The cats wont keep still,
The cats wont keep still,always trying to eat the little boygoing to sleep on the cot.
He asks his father, am I oedipal?Of course not, no one will harm you,he lies; or he may not know.
The horses of instruction plodfrom house to house;the father listens with happinessas the puma suffocates his child.
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Prior to Earth
the other species contributedthe excavation took shape
a mound was formed beside the ditchand we pulled from the ditchan enormous wooden frame
we said, was it you,was it your people?The frame was caked in dirtwe could see indentations,were there jewels therehad it been connected to some machinery?
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