A Feeling Right Before the Feeling
--Brenda Hillman 

At sunrise the deer eat
pieces of the quiet, they eat spaces
between the quiet
….& the sounds—;
………& the numbers on the calendar
lie flat in their boxes,
……they leak through tiny holes
………...in the minutes,
…………evenly so, so evenly,
 an active sense, before
 ……..the sense was made…

There, now, opposite to set down,
 ……….the agreed-upon, the shape
 …………….of the obvious
 …….drawn by an earlier
 ……….enchantment before the new
 ………………….anxiety set in:
 ……..the workers are safe;
.the terror stilled for an hour;
a lover’s outline, dreamed or imagined,
…….before you read the one-page book
…..again, what was that book,
.it had no copyright—

& what was before?
………a life, the dazzler, the dark,
………….the singing dust, it turned
when you turned, it orpheus-knew
what you forgot when you took the bowl
……..of burning time across the room—
……& if the previous is closer
…to you now, should you
look, doesn’t matter if you do,
….you carry the some of it
with it, out into it—