Alan Sondheim

derelict

if there were there would not be
if there is, there was not
for no one, there was,
for no one there would be

at times there seemed a place
or what an origin would be
if there were, there was not,
for anyone, this origin

there were lines among lines
somewhere, that was a place,
or where the place would be,
there was no place

there were lines, curved,
and some seemed to hold something,
nothing was held, nothing would be,
but memory of a place

memory is always of annihilation,
of something wrought, not being,
not being here, not being there,
not being held, or some thing

name floats and disappears,
sign leaves, would not have been
sign, would not have been
in or out of place, where place
would be

nothing remains of this, and
many letters are topologies,
separating interior from exterior,
for a moment embedded in space

but no place, and no one,
no other sign to the sign

if there were, there would not be

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