This first appeared in 1988, in Aileron. At the time I was experimenting with movement and breath and line, and wrote quite a few of these meditations in this form, some more successful than others.
* * *
where breath begins
it ends consider
light its secret
structure the sense
of limit defined
if a hand
recalls what the
eye cannot which
is the source
of remembrance one
touches more deeply
or allows itself
to be touched
a difference only
in the approach
O at the Edges 
A lovely work, and the audio/text tandem is so interesting, Bob. When I read this, I broke the lines, inserted pauses, differently than you did in your reading. It’s wonderful to hear a poet read his or her own work, as it adds dimension and possibility.
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The line breaks would be different today, and would better indicate pauses. iN this, and others like it, I adhered to a strict three words per line, three-line stanza, five stanza format, which made things interesting. 🙂
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Great! Enjoying this at break along I-40 in TN – heading back west from NC – turning point in this summer’s travels.
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Thanks, Jazz. I hope you’re having a great trip.
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Really enjoyed reading and listening to this work. There is something special about listening to a poet read his or her work. The beauty of the work lies in its changing rhythms, pauses and the musicality of the words. Each re-reading creates new subtle nuances of meaning, expression and sound. Have a great day.
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Thanks, Goff. I enjoy recording and sharing the poems.
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My pleasure
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Excellent job, both writing and reading!
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Thanks, Andrew. Much appreciated.
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You’re welcome.
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This is violently understated. The lack of punctuation or capitalization of any sort, the staggered line structure – there’s a lot of room for interpretation, both in the strictest sense (of what the words and phrases *mean*), but also in the cadence or rhythm of the poem. The normally clear association between words is torn down, allowing a greater breadth of contextualization for each.
Interesting, to say the least. This is actually one of things I like about Haiku, as a Western style writer I typically format mine in a three line triplet of 5-7-and-5 syllables, and I very much enjoy playing with the space between lines, using it to tweak the meanings of each line and the collective whole.
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