Noah Eli Gordon
A Midnight Villanelle

The old villanelle & the young villanelle
smashed together collectively solve the problem
of separation & collision, emptying the cell

of its nucleus, as I have emptied your inkwell
of ink & half-formed words, which the sum
of the old villanelle & the young villanelle

fails to negate yet in failing fails rather well
The old villanelle: “I shall hide the golden plum
of separation & collision, emptying the cell

in which you have caged me, so fare-thee-well
young villanelle. Soon you too will become
the old villanelle.” & the young villanelle:

“Just as a red cloud in a white cup impels
one to paint the sky in reverse, so I too succumb
to separation & collision, emptying the cell

in a cyclotron, tearing the door from its bell.”
The microscope builds its candescent lies from
the old villanelle & the young villanelle
separating, colliding, emptying the cell



Another Comment on the Text
after David Shapiro

           Out of the evening, ash ate the ground
A mouth of identical substance was deleted and the dress,
                      torn to glittering scarves, less carelessly
      randomized.
Four survivors walked out of the Indian
tidal wave.
Earth as clouds, clouds as a corpse
Evening as a victim one fully rendered
In wide white chalk and suturing the darkened center
Of its ownerless outline.

And a leaden skiff leaving us on land
January in July and the Old Testament
Proper nouns: presence.

Performance, pageantry, coup de grâce.

Like the dull female peacock near the grey fir

Palpable isolation and palpable intention. Protuberance.
Prisca’s grave prelude.
Innocence white Experience glossy red Songs are always green
I shun you in reach
I find you in distance
Your mask like a forest painted on both sides of the stage