Poem Ending with a Sentence by Heath Ledger

Each grinding flattened American vowel smashed to
centerlessness, his glee that whatever long ago mutilated his

mouth, he has mastered to mutilate

you: the Joker's voice, so unlike
the bruised, withheld, wounded voice of Ennis Del Mar.

Once I have the voice

that's
the line

and at

the end
of the line

is a hook

and attached
to that

is the soul.
 
Copyright Credit: Frank Bidart, "Poem Ending with a Sentence by Heath Ledger" from Metaphysical Dog. Copyright © 2013 by Frank Bidart. Used by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, LLC,  http://us.macmillan.com/fsg. All rights reserved.

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Source: Metaphysical Dog (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013)