• George Oppen ⋅ « Leviathan » ⋅ New Collected Poems 16 11 21

    Truth also is the pur­suit of it : Like hap­pi­ness, and it will not stand. Even the verse begins to eat away In the acid. Pursuit, pur­suit ; A wind moves a lit­tle, Moving in a circle, very cold. How shall we say ? In ordi­na­ry dis­course— We must talk now. I am no lon­ger sure of the words, The clo­ck­work of the world. What is inex­pli­cable Is the ‘pre­pon­de­rance of objects.’ The sky lights Daily with that pre­do­mi­nance And we have become the present. We must talk now. Fear Is fear. But we aban­don one another.…