Poem Therapy May 23, 2011 at 2;49 P.M.: Leviathan - George Oppen

Robert Fontenot

Leviathan
George Oppen

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.

Perfidy
–noun, plural -dies.
1. deliberate breach of faith or trust; faithlessness; treachery: perfidy that goes unpunished.
2. an act or instance of faithlessness or treachery.

This word has been at the forefront of my consciousness since last Wednesday when I stood viewing a wall of embroidered words, part of the artist Robert Fontenot: The Place This Is exhibition at the Salt Lake Art Center. Fontenot's piece is so exquisite that it elevates the word out of its base meaning.

But, back to the word and it's connection to the poem. Sometimes a lie or a behavior is as huge as a whale. Sometimes it is time to talk. Sometimes it is time to just cut and run, the word abandon rippling in your wake, streaming like ribbons in the wind.