Doug Bolling

                 Interior/Exterior

                          The I, the I, that is the deep mystery.

                                         __________ Wittgenstein, Blue and Brown Books


The carding.    The naming         on file

       Believe, the voice said
       Be what the matrix demands

                  I ride   I ride

                  The strands of me inside      a cortex
                   I am a fish navigating        the seas        of my---self

                  Call me when the shadow moves
                                                    As though          a    poem

                  They have measured the spectrum         along which
                                                    An I begins       itself

My I hides behind the shrubs,       a denuding

              My I and I would gather at the Bistro of the Damned

                           Just to celebrate our everlasting separation

                          I remember Gertrude Stein:

                                  Words live unseen by a grammar
                                  Words live in their secret lives
                                  Words are not words

                                           I do not exist.

Doug Bolling’s poetry has appeared in Posit, BlazeVOX, Indefinite Space, The Missing Slate (with interview), Bangalore Review, and The Inflectionist Review among others. He has received Best of the Net and Pushcart nominations, and several awards. He lives in the greater Chicago area.
 
 
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