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"DEAD MARCH"

Boyd Nielson

1. (3/14/18

Say east or west, the sky
blue & clouds streak ex
cept for a few dark as pitch
as tho bellowed from some
chimney suspended next
to reflective blue
west behind clouds
perhaps an explosion or firestorm
east are some reflections
wisps or emission contrast
before east & west are different.

2. (3/15/18

By three by seven years read seven
days or in other words
seven abyssal falls—endured
but not forgotten. Do not easily accept that.

3. (3/30/18

The brute indifferent extinct
tion of the vision of in
conceivability that only dis
torts a future perhaps some
others will breathe
                                  as I breathe air.
Almost April & no sign
of growth yet that will die
like Melville’s hopes in prose after
his early 30s. What kind
of question wd ask
whether it wd have mattered cd
I not write this
                           or what else &
none worth a damn
to be able to see what is gone
& refusing to see anything else
to the point of loss.