RAY HEINRICH
LIST OF NAMES
one paper falls
on top of another
and soon
rock is formed
from names on top of names
whispered to fine sand
pressed
by immense forces
who disavow all knowledge
you
lift the top folder
and open it
and read down the list
of names
they could be
third-grade classmates
guards at a prison camp
winners of a florida vacation
you
just hear your voice
reading name after name
wishing
there was more light
and your voice
sounds different
sounds like the voices
on the list
continuing to read
name after name
pronouncing yours correctly
like they'd read it
again and again
ever since the third grade
each morning in the camp
on the phone in the evening
telling you you'd won
THE NEXT DAY
you slipped and i found you the next day
but don't think if you are reading this
that i found you dead it's just that there
are different you's and if you and you get
mixed up what am i to do but go on because
it's always necessary to go on in a movie
and those of us who must make our lives
into movies will recognize this right away
and become the first you and the others
both luckier and smarter will take their
places as the second you as the we which
includes both you's and the not as eternal
as we had first assumed must continue with
finding the first you the next day on the
beach with your clothes removed by the surf
and your skin reddened by the sand rubbing
where i'd always wanted to but now you were
composed like an angel and could not be
touched as i crept away always the hermit
crab always in someone else's shell and
you slipped and i found you the next day
THE RED HEART AND THE SILVER HEART
the red heart and the silver heart
the first
filled with blood
the second
with the lightness of clouds
the red heart
a sharp knife
swings at your finger
never mind who
(maybe your other hand)
but the steel inside you
stops the knife
with the skin split
and the blood waits
and the two sides of flesh
are translucent
and the bone at the bottom
is white and gray
and then the blood comes
to relieve this paleness
to give it life
flowing easily
warmly
thickly
brightly
but later
it is almost black
the red heart
filled with blood
the silver
as thin as breath
watch a tree
throw itself against the sky
the silver heart believes
the tree
is the forked tongue
of some creature
buried
beneath the earth
licking the air
getting a taste of the sun
and the red
sees only blood
the red heart and the silver heart
on quiet nights
hear each other
beating between their own beats
hearing the voice of the other
hearing the voice of blood
hearing the voice of air
and between the beats of both
hear
the continents
miles down
rubbing rock against rock
singing with their heat
miles and miles down
the red heart and the silver heart
keep slivers of consciousness
magic
like the rocks are magic
living in the weather
that comes from the sun
and at night
the red goes on
the heart filled with blood
filled with the brilliant blood goes on
but the silver heart must rest
from writing down the story
from whole pages of hands
needing eyes
and much is missed
but the silver heart must rest
the red heart swells
again with blood
again with temples and sacrifice
of black obsidian blades
striking down to stone
with only a million ribs between
the red heart fills
and empties many times
and drinks it all as food and still is hungry
while the silver sleeps
the red heart and the silver heart
read the list of names
and they are always finding more
engraved in walls
printed in books
and the names they roll
roll from the silver
roll
into the red
and all the names
yours too
the red devours
Ray Heinrich
© 1997
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