THE FLOW OF TIME

by Jerome Rothenberg

THREE POEMS FROM “A FURTHER WITNESS”
          for Anselm Hollo in memoriam

THE FLOW OF TIME

to pose
a question
& to answer
with a further
question
adding
one
on one
he finds
the choice
absurd
but cannot stop
the flow
of time *                              * of rhyme
which is
no flow
but all
exists
at once
the street
has trees
once small
now grown
beyond
his wildest
dreams
the waters
curbside
rushing
toward a hole
that lands him *                  * strands him
where
he started
childhood
past
& buried
count
the hours
shrunk
to minutes
as the universe
has laws
too easily
rebuked *                            * rebuffed
where time
stands still
reversed
a sorry
instance *                            * instant