[The Variant Project]

Variants by: Variant 4 > Marita Dachsel Shane Plante Shaun Robinson Chris Ryan Brenda Schmidt Variant 3 > derek beaulieu Jason Dewinetz Ariel Gordon Sina Queyras Simon Speichert Variant 2 > Nicholas Bradley Gloria Frym Ariel Gordon K. Darcy Ingram Shane Neilson D.C. Reid Roxanne Weech Variant 1 > K. Darcy Ingram rob mclennan Bonnie Nish Brenda Schmidt Faro Annie Sullivan

 

Variant 3

The Multitude

Ariel Gordon

“Millions of things are the same as this.”

—STEVE MCCAFFERY
Panopticon

Walking through the fields
the scrubby varieties of grasses
unknown millions of seed pods
dropping like names from his lips
dropping on and on
over the years
these unattended crops
unaware of the possibility of harvest
and he, winnowing
moving through
this early morning his legs
slicked with dew
and the stalks, languid, reach out to cut
to slice slyly
at sun-screened skin

After a few steps
his clothes cling
the grasses rustling at the least provocation
moving light headed
between his legs, whispering
their promise of ripeness if only
the sun could care for them just
one more day

And underfoot their dry sisters
crackle amusement even though they are
spent hurds even though their promise
is past hoping now for someone who understands
how to endure who still knows
mirth who can swallow up the pain
find the ecstasy in
the omega

Others succumbed to the hunger
of ungulate lips and tongue the desire
to taste every part of the beloved
until there were teeth
moving over the length of them
and when it was over
like new brides, they were busy
exploring the new red-walled rooms
of their suitors
the details of this new faith absorbing them
as they learned what it was to move
beyond singularity

He wants to tell them that
millions of things are the same as this
that he knows what it is to be
prostrate flattened down to the ground
but only too late do they learn how to accept
the feet of others

As he ascribes the circle
as he haphazardly makes and
closes the loop
testing his strength
against the flimsy stalks
against these ones and
their thousand kin he realizes
that there is something in striving to be
the first one across the line
as he moves slowly through
this preface
this first form

 

 

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