Bob Heman


REMEMBERS

remembers
what it is like
to remember


DISTANCE

the distance described
but never entered
because the door
cannot be opened
and the sky
above him is
only painted on


OR DREAMS

or dreams
because that
is where the
door leads

the windows
closed & the
floor never able
to be opened


ENTERED

entered
a different
entrance
and found
everything
changed
even though
it was
exactly
the same


EACH TIME

each time the word

or using it again
to open the closed

the word always expected

the man using it
only when he must


THE WORD

the word
is forgotten
that will
make them
all forget
the word
they need
to know
to remember


DUTY

who weeps
when she
must
punish him

but punishes
him hard
just
the same


WHISPERS

whispers "whiskey"
or "whistle" or
"witch willow"
to the man
to the many
men who manage
to be complete
in the company
of women in
the company of
the trees they
cannot remove
from the dream


BEHIND THE DOOR

the complimentary females
were arranged according to size


WAS AGAIN

was again
what they heard
again what they saw
again the things
that touched them
before they could be
smelled or tasted


HE

wanted to see
who was speaking
but the mountain
was in the way


INFORMATION

The stranger is never more than the other side of the man who enters. They never recognize him until it is too late. Sometimes they think he is a chicken, or a bear, or a mushroom, but he is never any of these things. If he speaks it is only because we need him to speak. If we do not listen it is because we think we already know the answer.


Bob Heman's most recent collection, Demographics, or, The Hats They Are Allowed to Wear, is available as a free download from Quale Press, as is his earlier collection, How It All Began. His work has appeared recently in Sentence, Cannot Exist, House Organ and Noon (Tokyo), and online at Otoliths, Ditch, Press 1, Six Little Things, Right Hand Pointing and Six Sentences. He has edited CLWN WR (and its predecessor Clown War) since 1971.

 
 
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