prior by james berger book preview

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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

[email protected]

publ i she r o f we i rd l i t t l e books BlazeVOX [ books ]

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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?

prior by james berger book preview

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