This poem is taken from PN Review 166, Volume 32 Number 2, November - December 2005.

Brute Conflict

R.F. Langley

It could be this. It could
be brute conflict. It could
be that I want to count
because I do not want
to count. The counter-wish
is wished to normalise
confusion. To desire.
To notice the absence
of the stars. Regretting
it. Glad that they have gone.
To calculate without
desires, so the pebbles
vanish when it comes to
calculation. Desire
for pebbles. The placid
images of shape and
weight. The cheerful pebbles.
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