Photo: Sarah Stone
Number Poems, by Peter Kidd, were originally published with Chinese translations by Yin Xiaoyuan, for Beijing-based Encyclopedia Poetry Society, Feb 6, 2019
Numbers and Logic In the Use of Stanzas*
an assignment of international importance
and how the polymath soul
sews with
the very finest of
gold thread
fragments of content flourish
like never before
almost like there never was a before
the return of “vague categories”
in a time with boxes forming cubes
and yet there is recollection
repartee with legally dead souls
have you noticed the hat market
for men
is now exclusively for the bald
it’s not easy
giving away
the secrets
we’ve become a system
of mini systems
perhaps too many moving parts
to keep it running
and tho the spirit exists in divine deed
I’m surrounded by heretical do-aholics
auditioning for the yet to be filmed finale
it’s evening right after sunset
watching the damsel flies skim
atop the still pond
every now and then
dips
and swoops up larvae.
11/17/18
“ an homage to the power of the single image conjoinment ”
Couplets
Biblical Journalism
mixed with Whitman
something basic
and concrete
cornerstones
House of Creation
Melville, Whitman
Dickinson, Poe
if there is such abstraction
as say a literature
there’s a back and forth
involved in more than one process
a certain balance
to ambivalence
another abstraction, Society
unconsciously drawn to obscure
what is obvious to one
can be oblivious to another
it’s not the balance in things
so much as what weighs out
Process too
can be Precious
even the stars are not abstractions
they are physical bodies in a physical universe.
Title Should Be A Hand Drawn Black Ink Triangle
the center
the circumference
the radius
three part mystery
in the East
too
even thought requires thinking
then review the thought
and do something with it
Atman
Buddhi
Manna
holding
over
the square
in Time the present gives us
remembrances
imaginary futures
30 red roses
and
3 white roses
the conscious
the subconscious
the unconscious
the ability
to pull
it altogether
and act
gently
in the human condition.
The Square
the body
and nature
and all
that entails
the soul
our inner world
and that which
has longevity
the chi
in its singular
ongoing
ness
the small ego
without
upper case
authority.
Drawn 5 Pointed Star
the human form
arms out
legs apart
head up
engaged in poetry.
Three Sixes
marinated in supra illusions
taught tricks of the elements
they once worked expressly
in the psyche of humanity
with both the ability to speed it up
and slow it down at will
Lucifer
seduced by low level urges
self-righteous to the sixes
only emotion is pride
he lives in a soul swamp
and feeds on guilt and sentiment
Ahriman, too, evolving
from God of Dark for Zoroaster
into our second form
gets its kicks
on Route 66 dealing in fear and chaos
use a shield to reflect back his non self
Azuras
incarnating into our technology
contaminating for 52,000 years
this synthetic sun condition
the final lesson
about fossil fuels
the Trinity of Evil
working ever so hard
to slow down our awakening
frantic, dependent upon matter
becoming
the very last illusion.
Seven
each day
of the week
named after
a Primordial Planet
under its influence
subtle as
it may seem
a 49 petal rose
seven eras
in seven epochs
stretches out
evolution
post
Atlantis
seven burning bushes
eight junipers
placed upon a banking
accomplishing visual
design features
while stabilizing
the soil
seven red roses
in a bouquet
of fantasy
a
key
to the wonder
of the world.
Eight
the octave
of song
plays within
the Apriori Word
forming language
with which
to express
the Music of The Spheres
mental pictures
going through the scales
which no longer belongs
to Western mankind
solely
spices of antiquity from the East
simmering in the pot
of universal musicality
the muse
you say
yes
I obey
she comes
before dawn
the dew yet evaporated
from the lawn
to sing to
the Sun rising
from
the horizon
early meditation
to the songs
of the birds
in the dead elm tree.
Nine
it’s not for not
that the cat
a creature of curiosity
is given the option
to use 9 lives
in its exploration
of back alleys
secret spots
each a nemesis
nor did the Greeks
miscue
with their 9 higher worlds
or the 9 pillars
at the deep end
of a marble
pool
reflected
in its afternoon water
“the whole 9 yards”
the measure of which
appears to be everything
included
9 stones in the pre-zen garden
set in place by the imaginer
having serious
dialogue
only softened by the plants
each stone tells
the imaginer
where to place
the next stone
and this is how
it works
grail-like
step-by-step
all the way home…….
the imaginer
has already
mastered
inspiration
and
intuition
only to
begin again
at the imagination
9 eagles
fly for prey
in the western most pasture
9 rabbits
scurry
for cover
9 buffalo
graze
the grasses
Twelve
12 signs of the Zodiac
12 eggs in a dozen
12 inches to a foot
12 disciples of the Christ
12 is a dozen
12 geometries in Leonardo’s “Last Supper”
12 donuts a unit
12 bodhisatva’s circling Vishnu
12 apple trees in my orchard
12 months in a year to circle the Sun
12 days to Christmas
12 hours in a half day
12 minutes till two o’clock
the intuitive measure
of geometry
at its divine best
is the source
of unqualified beauty
these numbers
related to macrocosm
resonate
here
in the world
of malleable
nows
the abstraction
of all things
including numbers
can be a stretcher
but like all things
of substance
can be a risk
if the rubber
never
hits
the
road.
Sixteen
16 petals in the lotus flower
of the Troubadour
“4 squared” Bob Kaufman’s
first words to me
we were on about the solarplexus
this Amfortas
of the Piscean Age
to my Parsifal
of the Aquarian Age
each petal
both dark and light
illuminate the Atavistic
as well as the Contemporary
the blossom blooms
sets itself
a spinning
16 adventures
in the Minnesingers
tale
circling back
unto itself
alchymical initiation
this text
of oral
from town to town
singing their song
each night
to a new group
of souls
for a pittance
perhaps
food and some ale.
*The title preface poem “Numbers and Logic In the Use of Stanzas” was not originally included with “Number Poems”, as translated and published originally for Chinese readers. We publish Peter Kidd’s original preface to ’round out’ the experience for American readers.