Songs to Joannes, by Mina [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a kind of spade used in Ireland (OED 1892); alloy (obsolete, rare; 1622). Loy changed her name from ‘Lowy’ to ‘Loy’ in 1904 when she entered in the Salon d’Automne, a Parisian art exhibition (Burke 97).”]Loy[/su_tooltip]
I
Spawn of Fantasies
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.it, to flow or drift in after the manner of silt; transf.: to pass gradually away (OED 1892); v.t, of silt: to fill, block or choke up (a channel, the bed of a river, the sea, etc.) by gradual accumulation. Also rarely without ‘up.’ Chiefly past participle (fig. 1855)”]Silting[/su_tooltip] the appraisable
Pig [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a mythological figure, here in his Roman iteration: son of Venus, god of love, whose symbols are the arrow and the torch, “because love wounds and inflames the heart,” per Isidore of Seville in his Etymologiae (600 AD) (Wikipedia). “]Cupid[/su_tooltip] his rosy snout
Rooting erotic garbage
“Once upon a time”
Pulls a weed [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”possibly playing on “starrush whitetop,” a plant whose inflorescence comprises spiky, white blade-like petals with clusters of small yellow flowers. Sedge; wildflower.”]white and star-topped[/su_tooltip]
Among [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”first used colloquially by Thomas Becon in 1542 to mean the youthful indiscretions of a wild young man; in 1576, Thomas Newton writes, “That Wilfull and vnruly age, which lacket rypenes and discretion, and (as wee saye) hath not sowed all theyr wyeld Oates” (OED). Note Loy’s pun on sewn/sown.”]wild oats[/su_tooltip] sewn in mucous-membrane
I would an eye in a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a firework or flare that burns a blue light, used as a signal (OED 1899)”]Bengal light [/su_tooltip]
Eternity in a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a rocket or firework consisting of a thin, cylindrical payload attached to a stick, which explodes high in the air, to stunning visual effect (OED 1913)”]sky rocket[/su_tooltip]
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the configuration of stars, especially at one’s birth; an assemblage, collection or group of related persons or things (MW); per Wikipedia: “a group of stars that are considered to form imaginary outlines or meaningful patterns on the celestial sphere””]Constellations[/su_tooltip] in an ocean
Whose rivers run no fresher
Than a trickle of saliva
These are suspect places
I must live in my lantern
Trimming [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., physiological: of a sensory stimulus: below the threshold (limen) required required for conscious perception (OED 1906)”]subliminal[/su_tooltip] flicker
Virginal to the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., an instrument or device constructed to furnish a blast of air to stoke a fire; v., the roaring of a bull (OED 2, 1870)”]bellows[/su_tooltip]
Of Experience
Coloured glass
II
The skin-sack
In which a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., merciless, cruel; without check or limitation; lewd, bawdy; playfully mean or cruel (MW)”]wanton[/su_tooltip] duality
Packed
All the completions of my [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj. unfruitful; fruitless, unprofitable (MW)”]infructous[/su_tooltip] impulses
Something the shape of a man
To the casual vulgarity of the merely observant
More of a clock-work mechanism
Running down against time
To which I am not paced
My finger-tips are numb from [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.t, to eat or gnaw into (OED 1864); to make by wearing away something (1888); to gnaw, chafe (1867) to cause to suffer emotional strain (1867); the action of covering (a ceiling, etc.) with frets or fretworks, the ornamentation so produced (1880); to furnish (a guitar, etc) with frets (1877), may also indicate the act of playing the instrument by depressing the strings below the frets to change the strings’ vibration and sound”]fretting[/su_tooltip] your hair
A God’s [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a mat placed before a door for cleaning shoes before entering (1665); applied to a person upon whom people “wipe their boots” (OED 1861)”]door-mat[/su_tooltip]
On the threshold of your mind
III
We might have coupled
In the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., bedrid (OED 1816), viz, confined to bed through sickness and infirmity (1814); worn out, decrepit, impotent (1837); given the coupling in the first line, this may be a sexual innuendo, though most likely, Loy is playing on the definition of -ridden as afflicted, troubled, infested (1913)”]bed-ridden[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., chiefly financial term: the exclusive possession or control of the trade in a commodity, product, or service; the condition of having no competitor in one’s trade or business, also: an instance of this (OED 1883); more generally: he exclusive possession, control, or exercise of something; an instance of this (1903)”]monopoly[/su_tooltip] of a moment
Or [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”puns on “breaking bread” and the notion that the bread of the Eucharist is Christ’s flesh; “broken flesh” also sexually connotative, suggesting a broken hymen”]broken flesh[/su_tooltip] with one another
At the profane [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”common Protestant church fixture: a table used for the preparation and display of the Holy Communion sacrament (Eucharist) (Wikipedia)”]communion table[/su_tooltip]
Where wine is spill’t on promiscuous lips
We might have given birth to a butterfly
With the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”possible allusion to The Daily News, a popular national daily newspaper in the UK founded by Charles Dickens in 1846; more generally, seems to refer to newsprint”]daily news[/su_tooltip]
Printed in blood on its wings
IV
Once in a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”Italian; mezzanine, n.; architectural term. A low-ceilinged story between two main stories of a building; especially an intermediate story that projects in the form of a balcony (MW); “an apartment a half story up from the main floor” (Burke 205)”]mezzanino[/su_tooltip]
The starry ceiling
Vaulted an unimaginable family
Bird-like [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., induced or spontaneous expulsion of a fetus resulting in termination of a pregnancy; termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus (MW)”]abortions[/su_tooltip]
With human throats
A n d Wisdom’s eyes
Who wore lamp-shade red dresses
And woolen hair
One bore a baby
In a padded [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”Italian; n., child carrier; a sort of portable bassinet; (British) carrycot. (Collins) “]porte-enfant[/su_tooltip]
Tied with a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”alternate spelling sarsenet; n., a fine, soft silk fabric used as a lining material and in dressmaking (OED 1881)”]sarsanet[/su_tooltip] ribbon
To her goose’s wings
But for the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., worthy of or causing disgust or hatred; very bad or unpleasant (MW)”]abominable[/su_tooltip] shadows
I would have lived
Among their fearful [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., equipment that is necessary, useful, or desirable (MW)”]furniture[/su_tooltip]
To teach them to tell me their secrets
Before I guessed
—Sweeping the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the young of an animal or a family of young; especially the young (as of a bird or insect) hatched or cared for at one time (MW)”]brood[/su_tooltip] clean out
V
Midnight empties the street
Of all but us
Three
I am undecided which way back
To the left a boy
—One wing has been washed in the rain
The other will never be clean any more—
Pulling door-bells to remind
Those that are snug
To the right a halœd [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline; austere in appearance, manner, or attitude (MW)”]ascetic[/su_tooltip]
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n. (gerund) from v.t, figurative: to pass through, to make a hole through, penetrate, pierce (OED 1899); to make one’s way through (a narrow place, etc), to pass skillfully through the difficulties of (1866)”]Threading[/su_tooltip] houses
Probes wounds for souls
—The poor can’t wash in hot water—
And I don’t know which turning to take
Since you got home to yourself—first
VI
I know the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., one who uses secret or underhanded means to influence the aspects of a person or organization (MW); possible allusion to abortion via wire coat hanger. Could also be an allusion to F. T. Marinetti: the Wire-Puller could be one operating marionettes; this would be consistent with Loy’s play and punning on names in her other poems”]Wire-Puller[/su_tooltip] intimately
And if it were not for the people
On whom you keep one eye
You could look straight at me
And Time would be set back
VII
My pair of feet
Smack the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a hard, flat piece of stone used for making paths (MW)”]flag-stones[/su_tooltip]
That are something left over from your walking
The wind stuffs the scum of the white street
Into my lungs and my nostrils
Exhilarated birds
Prolonging flight into the night
Never reaching — — — — — — —
VIII
I am the jealous [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a building for storing goods (warehouse); an abundant supply or source (repository) (MW)”]store-house[/su_tooltip] of the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”from the Century Dictionary: n., the fag-end of a candle burned down; hence, a petty saving; a scrap; a fragment; a worthless trifle”]candle-ends[/su_tooltip]
That lit your adolescent learning
— — — — — — — — — —
Behind God’s eyes
There might
Be other lights
IX
When we lifted
Our eye-lids on Love
A cosmos
Of coloured voices
And laughing honey
And [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n. pl., the male sexual cell in animals (Medical Dictionary, MW)”]spermatozoa[/su_tooltip]
At the core of Nothing
In the milk of the Moon
X
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a cork to which feathers are attached to form a cone shape, used in badminton and battledore (OED 1897)”]Shuttle-cock[/su_tooltip] and [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”neologistic homophone of “battledore,” n., the light, flat bat (OED 1794) used in a game of the same name (OED 1836), played with a shuttlecock and rackets, similar to (predating) badminton; the game Loy puns upon referred to as “battledore and shuttlecock””]battle-door[/su_tooltip]
A little pink-love
And feathers are strewn
XI
Dear one at your mercy
Our Universe
Is only
A colorless onion
You [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”appearing to be an alternate of “disrobe,” “derobe” seems to derive from the French dérober (to steal), adj. dérobé, “secret, hidden” (Collins)”]derobe[/su_tooltip]
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., an investing cover or case of a plant or animal body or body part, e.g., the tubular fold of skin into which the penis of many mammals is retracted or the connective tissue of an organ or part that binds together its component elements and holds it in place (MW); medical definition; a slang term for a contraceptive worn on the penis: condom (OED 1897) “]Sheath[/su_tooltip] by sheath
Remaining
A disheartening odour
About your [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., sinewy, strong (archaic); showing or expressive of calm courage (bold); marked by effrontery or presumption (brash); excitable, nervous (MW)”]nervy[/su_tooltip] hands
XII
Voices break on the confines of passion
Desire Suspicion Man Woman
Solve in the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”“humid”: adj., oppressively damp; “carnage”: n., flesh of slain animals or humans (MW). Note Loy’s play on the phrase “human carnage” with “humid carnage,” suggesting sexual overtones”]humid carnage[/su_tooltip]
Flesh from flesh
Draws the inseparable delight
Kissing at gasps to catch it
Is it true
That I have set you apart
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., not violated or profaned; pure (MW)”]Inviolate[/su_tooltip] in an utter [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., formation of crystals; crystalline form; a fixed, definite form (MW)”]crystallization[/su_tooltip]
Of all the jolting of the crowd
Taught me willingly to live to share
Or are you
Only the other half
Of an ego’s necessity
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v., to flog, whip; to punish severely, chastise (MW)”]Scourging[/su_tooltip] pride with compassion
To the shallow sound of [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., lack of agreement, as with cognitive dissonance; discord; commingled, inharmonious sounds (MW)”]dissonance[/su_tooltip]
And [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., an almost onomatopoetic word indicating a sudden sound or cry; a rapid expansion or increase (MW)”]boom[/su_tooltip] of escaping breath
XIII
Come to me There is something
I have got to tell you and I can’t tell
Something taking shape
Something that has a new name
A new [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., measure in one dimension; one of three coordinates determining a position in space or four coordinates determining a position in space and time (mathematics); bodily form or proportion (obsolete); level of existence or consciousness (MW)”]dimension[/su_tooltip]
A new use
A new [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the state of being intellectually deceived or misled; a misleading image presented to the vision (MW)”]illusion[/su_tooltip]
It is [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., existing or present on all sides, as with light or sound; encompassing (MW)”]ambient[/su_tooltip] And it is in your eyes
Something shiny Something only for you
Something that I must not see
It is in my ears Something very [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., a vibration of large amplitude in a mechanical or electrical system caused by a relatively small periodic stimulus of the same or nearly the same period as the natural vibration period of the system; the intensification and enriching of a musical tone by supplementary vibration (MW)”]resonant[/su_tooltip]
Something that you must not hear
Something only for me
Let us be very jealous
Very suspicious
Very conservative
Very cruel
Or we might make an end of the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the state of being jostled or pushed together (MW); see the vibratory movement in “resonant””]jostling[/su_tooltip] of aspirations
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”vt., to throw (as an asteroid or comet) out of its normal orbit (MW); perhaps another play on “disrobe””]Disorb[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., not violated or profaned; pure (MW)”]inviolate[/su_tooltip] egos
Where two or three are [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”vit, to become or be capable of being welded; vt., to unite (metallic parts) by heating and allowing the metals to flow together or by hammering or compressing with or without previous heating; to unite or reunite closely or intimately (MW)”]welded[/su_tooltip] together
They shall become god
— — — — — — —
Oh that’s right
Keep away from me Please give me a push
Don’t let me understand you Don’t [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”vt., British spelling, to bring into concrete existence; to cause to seem real (MW)”]realise[/su_tooltip] me
Or we might tumble together
Depersonalized
Identical
Into the terrific [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the final beatitude that transcends suffering, sought especially in Buddhism through the extinction of desire and individual consciousness (MW)”]Nirvana[/su_tooltip]
Me you — you — me
XIV
Today
Everlasting passing [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., open to view: visible; appearing as actual to the eye or mind (MW)”]apparent[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., not perceptible by a sense or by the mind; extremely slight, gradual , or subtle (MW)”]imperceptible[/su_tooltip]
To you
I bring the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., coming or having recently come into existence; of…or being an atom or substance at the moment of its formation usually with the implication of greater reactivity than otherwise (Medical Dictionary, MW)”]nascent[/su_tooltip] virginity of
—Myself for the moment
No love or [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”unclear antecedent, possibly referring to hate, indifference, or sex”]the other thing[/su_tooltip]
Only the impact of lighted bodies
Knocking sparks off each other
In [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a void, a gulf, an abyss (OED 1840); primordial matter personified (1910); the formless void believed to have existed before the creation of the universe (1855); a state resembling that of primordial chaos, utter confusion or disorder (1908)” class=”chaos”]chaos[/su_tooltip]
XV
Seldom Trying for Love
Fantasy dealt them out as gods
Two or three men looked only human
But you alone
Superhuman apparently
I had to be caught in the weak [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a current of water or air running contrary to the main current: whirlpool (oceanography); a contrary or circular current (as of thought or policy) (MW)” class=”chaos”]eddy[/su_tooltip]
Of your [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., from v.it “drivel,” to let saliva dribble from the mouth: slaver; to talk stupidly or carelessly (MW)” class=”chaos”]drivelling[/su_tooltip] humanity
To love you most
XVI
We might have lived together
In the lights of the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”a river in the Tuscany region of Italy” class=”chaos”]Arno[/su_tooltip]
Or gone apple stealing under the sea
Or played
Hide and seek in love and cob-webs
And a lullaby on a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., noisy, harsh, tinny; though used here as a noun: perhaps an allusion to the contemporaneous popular music of Tin Pan Alley” class=”chaos”]tin-pan[/su_tooltip]
And talked till there were no more [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”npl. fleshy moveable muscle in the human mouth for speech; language: especially spoken language (MW); possible metonymic allusion to viable conversationalists” class=”chaos”]tongues[/su_tooltip]
To talk with
And never have known any better
XVII
I don’t care
Where the legs of the legs of the furniture are walking to
Or what is hidden in the shadows they stride
Or what would look at me
If the shutters were not shut
Red a warm colour on the battle-field
Heavy on my knees as a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., bedspread (MW); given the excess of play in the next two lines, Loy is possibly punning on the homophonic phrase, “counter pain”” class=”chaos”]counterpane[/su_tooltip]
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”Loy puns on many possible meanings of “count” and its variations; “count” v., to tally; to consider or account; to include or exclude oneself by or as if by counting (“count me in”); add, total” class=”chaos”]Count[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”variations on “count”: nouns: Count, n., European nobleman whose rank corresponds to that of a British earl; the total obtained by counting: tally; “counter” a piece of metal or plastic, used in reckoning or in games; something of value in bargaining: asset; a level surface, such as a table or shelf) over which transactions are conducted or food is served (MW)” class=”chaos”]counter[/su_tooltip]
I counted the fringe of the towel
Till two tassels clinging together
Let the square room fall away
From a round [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., Physics and Astronomy: emptiness of space; a state or condition resembling a vacuum: void (MW); according to the OED, the usage “vacuum” as shorthand (1910) for “vacuum cleanser” (1903) to refer to “a space from which most of the air has been removed by a pump” or the act of removing debris in cleaning via suction could be a evoked here”]vacuum[/su_tooltip]
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.it., to make or become wider, larger, or more open; to become expanded or swollen (MW: Medical)”]Dilating[/su_tooltip] with my breath
XVIII
Out of the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”verb (vt., to put or keep apart, divide; v.it, to remove sth by or as if by cutting), used as a noun here: something that has been separated, cut off (MW); note: Loy does not use “severance,” the noun form, but instead the gerund, “severing””]severing[/su_tooltip]
Of hill from hill
The [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the intervening time; meanwhile (MW)”]interim[/su_tooltip]
Of star from star
The [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., that is about to be or in the act of being born or brought forth (OED 1891), mathematics: of an entity or quantity: beginning to increase or develop from zero to a trivial initial state, forming or designating an infinitesimal increment (obsolete, 1821); chemistry: of a material thing or substance: in the act or process of being formed from component parts or emerging from one state to another (1877)”]nascent[/su_tooltip]
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., exerting force by reason of weight alone without motion; of or relating to bodies at rest or forces of equilibrium (MW)”]Static[/su_tooltip]
Of night
XIX
Nothing so conserving
As cool [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n.gerund, “cleave” has two simultaneous and antithetical meanings: v.it, to adhere firmly: cling; and v.t, to divide by or as if by a cutting blow (MW)”]cleaving[/su_tooltip]
Note of the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”Roger Conover (RC) notes the possibility that this may be a Duchampian pun (à la L.H.O.O.Q.); it does not seem to track in French, but as Loy knew several languages, perhaps it is a pun in German or Italian? It may also be a personal joke/reference, or a now forgotten artifact of pop culture”]Q H U[/su_tooltip]
Clear carving
Breath-giving
Pollen smelling
Space
White telling
Of [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.t, gerund, quenching: satisfying (MW)”]slaking[/su_tooltip]
Drinkable
Through fingers
Running water
Grass [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the stems or tops of crop plants especially after the crop has been gathered (MW)”]haulms[/su_tooltip]
Grow to
Leading astray
Of fireflies
Aerial [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a type of square dance; also, a card game popular in the 18th century (MW)”]quadrille[/su_tooltip]
Bouncing
Off one another
Again [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n.ger. or v.it, to join together for a common purpose (MW)”]conjoining[/su_tooltip]
In recaptured [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a transient variation of a quantity (such as electric current or voltage) whose value is normally constant; an electromagnetic wave or modulation thereof brief duration; a brief disturbance of pressure in a medium (MW)”]pulses[/su_tooltip]
Of light
You too
Had something
At that time
Of a green-lit glow-worm
— — — — — — —
Yet slowly drenched
To [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., having, admitting, or admitting no rays: dark (MW)”]raylessness[/su_tooltip]
In rain
XX
Let Joy go solace-winged
To [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”verb (most commonly a v.it, to move with a light quivering motion through the air (OED 1873); here a v.t (causatively), to cause to flutter, to move sth in quick irregular motions, to agitate or ruffle, also: to wear a thing into rags or to pieces by fluttering (1893); to throw someone into confusion, agitation, or tremulous excitement (1871). Loy may also be punning on ‘to flatter’ here.”]flutter[/su_tooltip] whom she may concern
XXI
I store up nights against you
Heavy with shut-flower’s nightmares
— — — — — — — — — —
Stack noons
Curled to the solitaire
Core of the
Sun
XXII
Green things grow
Salads
For the cerebral
Forager’s revival
Upon [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., made to swell or project; rounded out (OED 1647); v.t meaning also shadowed here: mastered or managed: directed, controlled (1882)”]bossed[/su_tooltip] bellies
Of mountains
Rolling in the sun
And [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”pun on homophone “floured” “]flowered[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a starch-based, semi-set dessert (akin to a pudding); also: mere flattery or empty compliment (OED 1891) “]flummery[/su_tooltip]
Breaks
To my silly shoes
In ways without you
I go
Gracelessly
As things go
XXIII
Laughter in [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., action or process of solving , the state, condition or fact of being solved (OED 1879); The action of dissolving, or changing from a solid or gaseous to a liquid state, by means of a fluid or solvent; the state or fact of being so dissolved (1870); A more or less fluid substance produced by the process of solution (1875, figurative 1858)”]solution[/su_tooltip]
Stars in a stare
Irredeemable pledges
Of [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., of a person: arriving or arrived at the stage of puberty (OED 1890); Botany: of stems, leaves, etc.: having pubescence, covered with short hair (1906); Zoology: of (part of) an animal, esp. an insect: covered with short soft hair, downy (1882) “]pubescent[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n.pl (the plural is unusual), the action or an act of perfecting, chiefly religious (OED 1838); acme, height, perfection (1911); the action or an act of completing, accomplishing, or finishing (1898); the action or act of consummating a marriage or relationship, also more generally, the action or an act of sexual intercourse (1879)”]consummations[/su_tooltip]
Rot
To the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., Anatomy and Biology: of a nerve, blood vessel, or other anatomical structure, or the course of such a structure: that reverses direction; that turns back upon itself (OED 1877); of or relating to sensation (esp. of pain) associated with the ventral (chiefly motor) root of a spinal nerve, originally attributed to recurrent fibres from the dorsal root (1873); occurring again, especially regularly (1860)”]recurrent[/su_tooltip] moon
Bleach
To the pure white
Wickedness of pain
XXIV
The [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., begetting or bringing forth offspring: reproductive, propagative (MW)”]procreative[/su_tooltip] truth of Me
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”exhausted; gradually finished (OED 1896)”]Petered out[/su_tooltip]
In [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., destructive of life: deadly; injuring or endangering society: pernicious; causing displeasure or annoyance; infectious, contagious (MW)”]pestilent[/su_tooltip]
Tear drops
Little lusts and [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n.pl (here), the quality or condition of being lucid; brightness, luminosity; intellectual clearness, transparency of thought or expression (OED 1884)”]lucidities[/su_tooltip]
And prayerful lies
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.t, to befog or stupefy; to mix confusedly; to make a mess of (MW)”]Muddled[/su_tooltip] with the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., hatefully or shockingly evil: abominable (MW)”]heinous[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the quality of being acerbic—sharp or bitingly critical, sarcastic, or ironic (MW) “]acerbity[/su_tooltip]
Of your [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”probably alluding to street prostitution, wherein a sex worker waits and solicits from a street corner”]street-corner[/su_tooltip] smile
XXV
Licking the Arno
The little rosy
Tongue of Dawn
Interferes with our eyelashes
— — — — — — — —
We [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.it., to be busy about trifles: to trifle; (trans) to cause to rotate lightly or delicately: to turn anything about, esp. with the fingers: to twirl (OED 1874, 1886). Because of the “licking” and “tongue” of stanza 1, “twiddle” may also have sexual connotations”]twiddle[/su_tooltip] to it
Round and round
Faster
And turn into machines
Till the sun
Subsides in shining
Melts some of us
Into abysmal [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a small recess or compartment (usually one of a series) for a domestic pigeon to root or nest in (OED 1806); a theoretical compartment or division: a fixed category or role into which a person, thing, idea, etc. is classified (1902)”]pigeon-holes[/su_tooltip]
Passion has [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.t., to pierce, perforate, make a hole in or through (OED 1887); Loy also puns on the adjectival “bored”: wearied, suffering from ennui (1861)”]bored[/su_tooltip]
In warmth
Some few of us
Grow to the level of cool plains
Cutting our [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a firm or stable position of the feet: a surface from which a person or animal can (safely) stand or walk: a notch or ledge that can be used as a step (OED 1898); a place where a plant can take hold: firm rooting: roothold (1880)”]foot-hold[/su_tooltip]
With steel eyes
XXVI
Shedding our petty [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., prudish behavior, attitudes, or character: extreme or affected modesty, demureness, or propriety, esp. in relation to sexual matters (OED 1880)”]pruderies[/su_tooltip]
From slit eyes
W [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.it., to move or go sideways or obliquely: to edge along, esp. in a furtive or inconspicuous manner, or while looking in another direction: to approach a person or thing in this manner (OED 1885)”]sidle[/su_tooltip] up
To Nature
— — — that irate [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., pornographer (OED 1893), viz, a person who produces or provides pornography (1809), viz, the explicit description or exhibition of sexual subjects in literature, paintings, film, etc., in a manner intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic feelings (1896), a study of prostitution (1895)”]pornographist[/su_tooltip]
XXVII
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., Astronomy: the small bright body in the head of a comet (OED 1868); Biology, Physics, Anatomy, etc.: a central point, group, or mass about which gathering, concentration, or accretion takes place, as in cells, atoms, or molecules cells (MW)”]Nucleus[/su_tooltip] Nothing
Inconceivable concept
Insentient repose
The hands of races
Drop off from
Immodifiable [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a substance that is easily molded or shaped under some conditions but that solidifies as it cools, dries, etc. OED 1896); also: adj., a sculpted or modeled figure, e.g., the plastic arts. Like so many of Loy’s phrasings, this is oxymoronic: plastic is, by definition, modifiable and pliant until it hardens.”]plastic[/su_tooltip]
The contents
Of our [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., of diseases: beginning and ending in a day (OED 1881); of insects, flowers, etc.: existing for one day only, or for very few days (1880); in more extended application: that is in existence, power, favor, popularity, etc., for a short time only: short-lived, transitory (1867)”]ephemeral[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the action of conjoining; the fact or condition of being conjoined; union, connection, combination (OED 1890); union in marriage (1819, obsolete) or sexual union, copulation (1794, obsolete); Astrology and Astronomy: an apparent proximity of two planets or other heavenly bodies; the position of these when they are in the same, or nearly the same, direction as viewed from the earth (1889)”]conjunction[/su_tooltip]
In aloofness from Much
Flowed to [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the action of approaching: approach (OED 1646); approach in character, affinity (1830)”]approachment[/su_tooltip] of — — — —
NOTHING
There was a man and a woman
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”colloquial: pregnant (OED 1906); also: habitual individual behavior (1871); but also, something that forms an obstruction or hindrance to one’s passage”]In the way[/su_tooltip]
While the Irresolvable
Rubbed with our daily deaths
Impossible eyes
XXVIII
The steps go up for ever
And they are white
And the first step is the last white
Forever
Coloured conclusions
Smelt to synthetic
Whiteness
Of my
Emergence
And I am burnt quite white
In the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., relating to a critical period (OED 1881); critical, decisive, epochal (1885); Physiology and Medicine: designating a period of physical (and, often, psychological) change occurring in middle age and believed to indicate the onset of senescence (1879); Medicine and Psychology: the period in middle age at which a person’s reproductive or sexual capacity declines, spec. (in women) the menopause (1897) “]climacteric[/su_tooltip]
Withdrawal of your sun
And wills and words all white
Suffuse
Illimitable monotone
White where there is nothing to see
But a white towel
Wipes the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”a neologism? possibly from cymophane, n. Minerology: chrysoberyl (MW), esp. an opalescent chrysoberyl or a homophone of ‘symphonous,’ (OED 1831) adj., rare spelling of symphonious, viz, sounding pleasantly together or with something else; concordant; harmonious (1865)”]cymophonous[/su_tooltip] sweat
—Mist rise of living—
From your
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.t, Botany and Horticulture: to cause (a plant) to develop with reduced level of chlorophyll (esp. by reducing light) causing bleaching of the green tissues, elongated internodes, weakened stems, deficiencies in structure, and abnormally small leaves (OED 1835). Note Loy’s curious use of the infinitive form here. “]Etiolate[/su_tooltip] body
And the white dawn
Of your New Day
Shuts down on me
Unthinkable that white over there
— — — Is smoke from your house
XXIX
Evolution fall foul of
Sexual equality
Prettily miscalculate
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., counterpart, double; visible likeness: image; correspondence in kind or quality; a point of comparison (MW)”]Similitude[/su_tooltip]
Unnatural selection
Breed such sons and daughters
As shall [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”v.it, to speak rapidly and inarticulate; to chatter unintelligibly (OED 1900)”]jibber[/su_tooltip] at each other
Uninterpretable [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n.pl, a pseudonym or codename, esp. one given to a spy or clandestine operation (OED 1876)”]cryptonyms[/su_tooltip]
Under the moon
Give them some way of braying brassily
For caressive calling
Or to homophonous [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”popular misspelling of “hiccups,” though pronunciation remains the same. n., an involuntary spasm of the respiratory organs, consisting in a quick inspiratory movement of the diaphragm checked suddenly by closure of the glottis, and accompanied by a characteristic sound. Also, the affection consisting in a succession of such spasms (OED 1877)”]hiccoughs[/su_tooltip]
Transpose the laugh
Let them suppose that tears
Are snowdrops or molasses
Or anything
Than human insufficiencies
Begging [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., Anatomy and Zoology: pertaining to the back of an animal: situated on or near the back (often opposed to ventral) (1882); Merriam-Webster also defines “dorsal” as a mis- or alternate spelling of “dossal,” n., an ornamental cloth hung hung behind and above an altar”]dorsal[/su_tooltip] vertebræ
Let meeting be the turning
To the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj. (misspelling), of or pertaining to the opposite side of the world, esp. Australian (OED 1877); humorously, Having everything upside down (1853)”]antipodean[/su_tooltip]
And Form a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”alternate spelling of “blur”: n., a smear which partially obscures, made with ink or other coloring matter, or by brushing the surface of writing while still wet (OED 1871, spelled thusly, in R. Browning); fig., a stain which bedims moral or ideal purity, a blemish: an aspersion on character (1883, spelled thusly); an effect like that of blurred writing or painting: an indistinct blurred appearance, indistinctness, confused dimness (1873 spelled thusly, in R. Browning)”]blurr[/su_tooltip]
Anything
Than seduce them
To the one
As simple satisfaction
For the other
Let them clash together
From their incognitœs
In [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., Geology: of, subject to, or caused by an earthquake; of or relating to an earth vibration caused by something else (such as an explosion or the impact of a meteorite); of or relating to a vibration on a celestial body (such as the moon) comparable to a seismic event on earth; fig., having a strong or widespread impact: earthshaking (MW)”]seismic[/su_tooltip] orgasm
For far further
Differentiation
Rather than watch
Own-self distortion
Wince in the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n. and adj., belonging to another person, place, or family; not of one’s own; from elsewhere, foreign (OED 1880); Born in, or owing allegiance to, a foreign country; esp. designating a foreigner who is not a naturalized citizen of the country where he or she is living (1863); of a plant or animal: brought from another country or district and subsequently naturalized; not native (1903); Biology: DNA or other biological material, such as cells or tissues: originating from another organism, esp. one of a different species (1911)”]alien[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., Psychology: that part of the mind which is most conscious of self; spec. in the work of Freud that part which, acted upon by both the id and the super-ego (ego-ideal), mediates with the environment (OED 1910)”]ego[/su_tooltip]
XXX
In some
Prenatal [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., the act of, or something, plagiarized: v.t: to steal or pass off the ideas or words of another’s as one’s own; use another’s production without crediting the source; v.it, to commit literary theft; present as new or original an idea or product derived from an existing source (MW)”]plagiarism[/su_tooltip]
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., chiefly British spelling: fetal (MW)”]foetal[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n.pl, ‘A man whose profession is to make sport by low jests and antick postures’ (Johnson); a comic actor, clown; a jester, fool (1868, archaic)”]buffoons[/su_tooltip]
Caught tricks
— — — — —
From [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adv., the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type or representations or copies; a perfect example (MW)”]archetypal[/su_tooltip] pantomime
Stringing emotions
Looped aloft
— — — —
For the blind eyes
That Nature knows us with
And the most of Nature is green
— — — — — — — — — —
XXXI
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”most probably an allusion to the crucifixion of Christ; notable here for its thricely anaphoric opening of each stanza; note its juxtaposition with the biological world (“eclosion”) and the world of pagan myth (“caryatid”)”]Crucifixion[/su_tooltip]
Of a [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., (without hyphen) an officious, interfering, meddling, or prying person; one who involves himself or herself in other people’s affairs without invitation (OED 1871); because Loy adds the hyphen, we must consider the terms separately as well: busy: adj., occupied with or concentrating on a particular activity; actively engaged; doing something that engrosses the attention (1874); body: n., the physical form of a person, animal, or plant (1881), esp. as contrasted with the soul”]busy-body[/su_tooltip]
Longing to interfere so
With the intimacies
Of your insolent isolation
Crucifixion
Of an illegal ego’s
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n. Biology: the act of emerging from the pupal case or hatching from the egg (MW)”]Eclosion[/su_tooltip]
On your equilibrium
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a draped female figure supporting an entablature (MW)”]Caryatid[/su_tooltip] of an idea
Crucifixion
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., Nautical: that which has undergone or suffered wreck, esp. shipwreck: ruined, destroyed (OED 1875) note the homophonic pun on “racked,” alluding, perhaps, to the medieval torture device “]Wracked[/su_tooltip] arms
Index [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”npl, the farthest or most remote part; a limb of the body, esp. hand or foot; extreme danger or critical need; a moment marked by imminent destruction or death (MW)”]extremities[/su_tooltip]
In [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., Physics and Astronomy: emptiness of space; a state or condition resembling a vacuum; void (MW)”]vacuum[/su_tooltip]
To the unbroken fall
XXXII
The moon is cold
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”RC, in his careful footnotes to The Lost Lunar Baedeker, suggests that Joannes probably refers to Giovanni Papini (arguing that “Joannes” translates to “Giovanni” in Italian). Another possibility: “Joannes” is a curiously unisex name; while some sites identify it as masculine, it is neither “Johannes” nor “Joanne/a,” suggesting a third, androgynous possibility. Perhaps these poems—“Songs to Joannes”—do not merely signal apostrophe to a beloved but also (instead?) are dedications to their patron saint/muse “]Joannes[/su_tooltip]
Where the Mediterranean — — — — —
XXXIII
The [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a thief (OED 1874); an excessively precise or particular person: a dandy, a fop (1882); a conceited or self-important and didactic person (1897)”]prig[/su_tooltip] of passion — — — —
To your professorial [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., scantiness, thinness (OED 1866): smallness of number/quantity: dearth (MW)”]paucity[/su_tooltip]
[su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., Biology: the complex, translucent, colorless colloidal material comprising the living part of a cell, including the membrane-bound cytoplasm, nucleus, and other organelles (OED 1903); (gen.) a primitive or primary form of something; a primordial substance (1906)”]Proto-plasm[/su_tooltip] was raving mad
Evolving us — — —
XXXIV
Love — — — the [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”adj., surpassing others in rank or excellence, in respect of some quality: exceptionally distinguished: outstanding (OED 1906)”]preeminent[/su_tooltip] [su_tooltip style=”light” position=”north” content=”n., a literary man, a writer of literary or critical works (OED 1895); a literary person, esp. a professional writer (MW). Note Loy’s dropping of the accent aigu (from French litérateur) and her (not incorrect, but more dated) use of the double “t””]litterateur[/su_tooltip]
