Wosene Worke Kosrof, The Inventor V (detail), 2022, acrylic on linen. Courtesy of Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
Whatever
Whatever keeps
a heart this still
suffers itself
unmoved
Whatever casts
clouds before the eye
sees itself blind
Whatever stoops
to low things
is brought near itself
Whatever inspires
angels’ breath
is substantially wind
Whatever is
the Form of form is not it-
self known
Whatever moves
these words
to work
sings itself to sleep.
Gerald T. Gordon has published about twenty poems as well as articles on William Carlos Williams, Ernest Hemingway, and Evelyn Waugh. (updated 1974)