(Hotel Eden) In Full Light We Are Not Even a Shadow

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(Hotel Eden) In Full Light We Are Not Even a Shadow

Which is to say clarity persists in
increments, in the silent space between
color and lens, within parables seen
in the incomplete: straw, hand. Imagine

white valued more than manner as hidden
thought remains obscured. Lower your eyes, lean
forward. Perspectives tilt towards the mean,
suggesting purpose. When we examine

intent, do we find it? The irony
of bottled cork, of sullied paradise,
a coiled wire, the parrot whose voice,

unheard, implicates us. What felony
must we commit to admit the device
in play? Pull or release? The mimic’s choice.

Notes: “In full light we are not even a shadow” is a line from Antonio Porchia’s Voices.

Hotel Eden is the title of a piece of art by Joseph Cornell. An image may be found here:
http://www.wikiart.org/en/joseph-cornell/untitled-the-hotel-eden-1945

DSC_1972

18 thoughts on “(Hotel Eden) In Full Light We Are Not Even a Shadow”

  5. Yeah, Cornell’s great. Not to mention my alma mater, ha. This poem reminds me in some very strong ways of early Ashbery circa Some Trees–which to me is very very good. Have you / do you read him and is he an influence? Never thought of that before. But regardless of the answer, I love this poem, its controlled articulate view of the illusion of control and the myth of the articulate view. “Articulate view”… just freakin’ thinking about Ashbery makes me think of stuff like that.

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