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This poem is taken from PN Review 100, Volume 21 Number 2, November - December 1994.

Six Poems John Peck

Ars Poetica
By silvery increment, by mineral touch of the remorseless,
the irregular stone takes shape, though it derives shape
from the ruled lattice, denuded hegemenous crystal.

The bitterness of salt is a taste waiting to be changed,
waiting with the power to change every other savour,
dissolving under patience of the rains only,

like the rich man's regatta fading down evening beneath
the outflowing half of breath, towards the pulse's cusp,
and masts creeping beneath their spar candles.




White Deer Running
Baucis and Philemon, having forgiven their killer Faust
and been resurrected to this life, to reenter their rest,
...


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