Bob Heman

INFORMATION

Only another story about a door opening into a field of flowers, about the man who left his skin behind, about the word they thought they could never speak, about the shadow that it cast.



INFORMATION

Has to remember the hands in order to use them. Has to remember the foot and the tongue and the cock. Has to remember that sometimes the colors really do mean something. Has to remember that the sound is sometimes a warning.



INFORMATION

He told her the story of the man who was paddled by his girlfriend when he was late or showed disrespect. But she didn’t understand. He told her the story of the two frogs who drove their car in circles around the bears to confuse them. But she didn’t understand. He told her the story about the clouds that weighed too much to float. But she didn’t understand. The only thing she understood were her own hands and then only when they were not closed.



INFORMATION

Has to be a man when she enters the room and a turtle when she enters the sea. Has to be a bear with more fingers than she knows how to use. Has to have words that have no meaning except to herself. Has to keep on walking even when the distance starts.



INFORMATION

An explanation was necessary only when they ran out of clouds.



INFORMATION

They see only what they expect to see or what they want to see or what they are required to see. They see only what is brought into the room after they are already in the room.



INFORMATION

Has to have a dog when she enters and a cantaloupe when she leaves. Has to have three cats each time. And a bag of wind she will never open. The label on the door says they are bigger but she is never allowed to find out.



INFORMATION

Sometimes the map is the only explanation they are given. The woman climbs inside it more easily than the man. The roads can contain cars or animals. There are no instructions for their use.



INFORMATION

Because she is too young she only notices the orange seats.



INFORMATION

Each time the clouds. Each time the mountain and the book that described it. Each time the animals that were not yet separated. Each time the rocks that gave them direction and the stream that gave them distance. Each time the woman who was not permitted. Each time the rope and the shell and the ball.



INFORMATION

Once the metaphors are removed the tower is different. The man has clothes that have no explanation of their own. She expects the animals to move in a certain way but they cannot because they are no longer animals.



INFORMATION

Is it better to stop the wind or let the wind blow freely? Is it better for a woman to be a man or for a man to be a woman? Inside of the animal there are other animals that are exactly the same. Beneath the water there’s a mirror that cannot be removed.



INFORMATION

Has a lion that fills the box and a tree that fits inside the barrel. Has a head that is not his own. Has a game that no one knows how to play. Has to speak some words to set it in motion.



INFORMATION

She came without directions.



INFORMATION

Well how about this. The man is a giraffe or a pail of water. The woman a fence that is not quite complete. They are joined in a conceit that contains cars without motors and a tree that can’t stop singing. The reader only thinks she understands.

Bob Heman edits CLWN WR. His “Information" pieces have appeared in many publications including Caliban online, Sentence, Otoliths, Right Hand Pointing, Mad Hatters' Review, Ditch, Fell Swoop, and Clockwise Cat, and are included in the 2009 anthology, An Introduction to the Prose Poem, published by Firewheel Editions. Two collections of his earlier prose poems are available as free downloads from Quale Press.
 
 
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