“The Figure of a Man Being Swallowed by a Fish”
is not a man being swallowed by a fish
with eyes like eight-point throwing stars
it’s a man being swallowed by a war
a man being taken into the mouth of a woman
or being swallowed by his work
it’s a man traveling far inside a book
a man being swallowed up in smoke
he swallows the smoke, that blends around him like a thought
it’s a man being swallowed by a sound
he shapes it so he lives inside a song
of a man being swallowed by his kin, his skin
a man being swallowed by the State
(Leviathan in 1948)
It’s a man being swallowed by another man
literally, eaten as a pathway to god
it’s a man being swallowed by a sight
he cannot reach, cannot touch, cannot trace
it’s a man who won’t recognize his face
who can’t fit the parts, or find the place
it’s a man in triumph over death
who laughs and beats the dust from his clothes
a man tasting dust inside the laugh
it’s a man who listens to the clock
a man with nothing to exchange
a rude man, his twin he leaves behind
it’s a man who wants to be a bride
a man being swallowed by his fault
with something old to show and new to hide
it’s a man who tries to haul the rope
a man who stooping can’t provide
a man who can’t forget his name
it’s a man who doesn’t know his worth
it’s a man being swallowed by his wrath
his youth, yield, luck, the law, his fear, the fog, his fame
it’s a man being swallowed by a coat
his father’s coat, he smells of the fit
a man being swallowed by his vows
it’s a man softly squeezing for the vein
he never finds it, he’s minding the road
it’s a man being swallowed by a room
in which he finds a man being swallowed by a fish
it’s a man who thinks what’s in a man
who exits into night at closing time
the figure of a man being swallowed by a fish.
Copyright Credit: Joshua Weiner, "'The Figure of a Man Being Swallowed by a Fish'" from The Figure of a Man Being Swallowed by a Fish. Copyright © 2013 by Joshua Weiner. Reprinted by permission of The University of Chicago Press.
Source: The Figure of a Man Being Swallowed by a Fish (University of Chicago Press, 2013)