Thankfully, the soul knows
almost nothing of
what the flesh in known for.
Nor can everything
it learns be put into words.

Credo, Desiderata

for danielle

I aim to be credible in the moment, sufferable for a time,
desirable at a distance, and tolerable in bed.

Don't bother making things
famous. They don't need it.

And don't bother people with
fame. It destroys them.

The substrate of consciousness is life.
Your soul depends on it.

The contortions of belief
that protect our desires,

the contortions of desire,
that protect our beliefs,

are rectified in

the clarity of philosophy,
the intensity of poetry.