The Book of the Fourfold Event
By L. M. Rivera
for Rusty Morrison
I.
Why do we immortally begin
with an apocalyptic outpouring—
the way a diamond
might be flung
into a black pond—
or . . .
the way
He proposes blindness
as precondition—
a gnostic logic
satanically composed—
by which I
mean to say:
He is holding
a severed head
full of cold diamonds—
and you are simply
reading from The Book
of Numinous Idiocy.
II.
Surrounded by books
is not the same
as being suffocated
by an actual
book—
the differential mean
hidden behind
a marble wall—
the wall
hidden beneath
a sable fur tapestry—
the tapestry
not hidden at all
but, rather,
befogged
and foregrounded
by gilded pistols—
positioned
on a pair
of mahogany tables
inborn,
as if to justify
the incident.
III.
We've encountered
a triangulated mirror
in conversation, mostly—
our patience vanished
long ago—
the inertia
of miniature masks
and organized wreckage—
left alone
in isolated space—
where breathing disperses,
in dispensed with—
the moment
wherein there is no more—
and
then
there's
the
blind
silences.
IV.
The Event, described,
no longer applies
to current conditions,
unless (of course)
the conditions
change back
and, therefore,
modify themselves
in epistemic fashion—
like being stuck
under The Bridge
with red horns
sticking upward
and delicate,
excluding a way
that does not
claustrophobe
and claw
the mind,
the way one pauses
before
their
own
beheading.
Copyright Credit: L.M. Rivera, "The Book of the Fourfold Event" from Against Heidegger. Copyright © 2020 by L.M. Rivera. Reprinted by permission of Omnidawn Publishing.
Source: Against Heidegger (Omnidawn Publishing, 2020)