I the People
By Alice Notley
I the people
to the things that are were &
come to be.
We were once what we know
when we
make love When we go away
from each other because
we have been created
at 10th & A, in winter &
of trees & of the history of houses
we hope we are
notes of the musical scale of
heaven—I the
people so repetitious, & my
vision of
to hold the neighbors loose-
ly here in
light of gel, my gel, my vision
come out of
my eyes to hold you sur-
round you in
gold & you don’t know it
ever. Everyone
we the people having our
vision of
gold & silver & silken liquid
light flowed
from our eyes & caressing
all around all the
walls. I am a late Pre-
in this dawn of
We the people
to the things that are & were
& come to be
Once what we knew was only
and numbers became
It is numbers & gold & at 10th
& A you don’t
have to know it ever. Opening
words that show
Opening words that show that we
were once
the first to recognize
the immortality of numbered
bodies. And we are the masters
of hearing & saying
at the double edge of body &
breath
We the lovers & the eyes
All over, inside her
when the wedding
is over, & the Park “lies cold &
lifeless”
I the people, whatever is said
by the first
one along, Angel-Agate. I wear
your colors
I hear what we say & what
we say . . . (and I
the people am still parted in
two & would cry)
Copyright Credit: Alice Notley, “I the People” from Grave of Light. Copyright © 2006 by Alice Notley and reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Source: Grave of Light (Wesleyan University Press, 2006)