(being a recapitulation of the “Fresh Eyes for a Fresh World” sections of Sometimes I Never Suffered)
The hastily assembled angel’s sure he never
Before he had a body had a body
How could he have….. though he….. thinks he remembers
Watching the other angels build him from above the
Parts they were hammering together were
Folding together stapling….. together paper-
clipping together nobody….. yet living where
Staples and paperclips would come from paper
To fold….. but hammers always were and things
To strike bodies….. to strike except for his
Which he’s sure….. could not have been
Before it was….. but he recalls an eminence
As if he once had been a spotlight’s beam
Shining from somewhere in a medium-sized
City….. untraceable and from
Which the place takes its mystery….. to whom does
The spotlight call….. and from where does it call
And does the pillar of light emanate
From the shadowy machine beaming….. from tall
Grass or a parking lot….. amidst low-mileage late-
Model used cars….. or does the pillar of
Light emanate instead from the heaven
It brightens and does not explain….. the oth-
er angels when they built him
Built him so hurriedly he never had the
Chance to ask them questions….. not
Good questions not….. the questions anybody
Might as they watched their body built beneath them….. ask like What
Is happening he….. thinks he might have asked
Like Help….. he thinks he might have asked Why am I
So high why can’t I kneel and make
With you whatever you’re….. making the hastily assembled
Angel is sure….. he saw the tops of the other an-
gel’s heads before he saw their bodies
Before he saw their hands
Shaking like the hands of humans when….. humans are pleading
Though at the time he knew
Nothing he could compare the shaking to