You lovely looker on and by and by and.
One-eyed Cupid, locked, cocks, and shot
Zeno’s arrow at Zeuxis’ grapes.
Shaft straight. The pointed
parabola arced its homeward hoops on its
wondering way through loop and loop
towards my eye’s apple; its
projectory now arches down to heel to hit
or miss, may kiss the head or glance off
on bow bend or twisted thread.
My flighted hope: that bird cracks glass, and tumblers
beakers break on painted grapes
on picture plane or bounce back
deflected, as mote on float
reflected. Map the rebound ’cause
I am sore astound and all amazed,
while flecks dart and seeds quiver
quiver while the heavy freighted interim
Split hairs or ends or seconds now sub-divide
by half and half, as hare’s breath
on tortoise’s collar falls and arrow
tip elbows each atom aside
to side or sneaks contracted
kiss, a peak, a contact passing
charge in the charge in the change
from Z to thee kinetic.
Keep lovely looking on and over
looking keep looking till
your lead tip punctures what, back then, was
walnut, poppy, hemp, pine and olive; then
a resinous gloss, of Paris Green,
of arsenic, of mercuric sulphide;
then, later, oglio cotto, honeyed
lead oxide; then beeswax;
now, bladder-pod, ironweed, calendula,
sandmat, in slow drying strata
of alpha-linolenic, brittle as it brakes,
of crisp linoleic, of still wet oleic acid, still wet.
So keep on lovely looking on,
no overlook, from then to now, as now
the paste-board splits
and peck hits home and
dry eye and true to touch
and each grape breaks and
tortoise tumbles down hap with hare
and tip touches now, and now, and when
and then just so, soothed through
freeze frame and bending glass,
each hot pigment shot and then
and then, keep lovely looking till.
So glancing blown by,
so palpably hit away, so
keep so lovely looking still
keep lovely looking till
until each hungry bird
has flown and had his fill.