"The lost cartouche" [shi diptych with boomerang]

for Ellen Frank


Does poetry add to the gloom   or lead through the gloam?
the rhyming of bloom with womb   or tomb with loom
is woven into the language   little is known
we zoom through a mute cartoon   seeking for whom?
but they speak to us   the words inscribed on trees
falling with leaves   blustering with breezes   soon
perhaps we'll recite   the odes of wrists and knees
does poetry add to the gloam   or lead through the gloom?

Inscribed in the lost cartouche   that none were reading
was the history of the place   that all were finding
it wasn't exactly a case of   special pleading
but might have become an occasion for   fresh reminding
"there's a crack in everything" sang the song   unwinding
were a tale without a head   whose heart were bleeding
"the pictures in the exhibit   were bright even blinding"
inscribed in the lost cartouche   that none were reading