The Pattern
As soon as
I speak, I
speaks. It
wants to
be free but
impassive lies
in the direction
of its
words. Let
x equal x, x
also
equals x. I
speak to
hear myself
speak? I
had not thought
that some-
thing had such
undone. It
was an idea
of mine.
Copyright Credit: Robert Creeley, “The Pattern” from The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1945-1975. Copyright © 1992 by the Regents of the University of California. Reprinted with the permission of the University of California Press, www.ucpress.edu. Permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
Source: Poetry (June 1964)