Little War Machine
by M Sarki

Description

“Yeats wrote, “Words alone are certain good.” Read Sarki and experience that truth.” (Frank Lentricchia)

“Sarki’s big. Can clean my clock with time left over. The man asks me for a word, I give the man a word—after or otherwise. He’s a stone mason, right? Whereas Lish is not even a leaflifter. Tell you what. Go back and try every damn one of them again. If they start to make sense, as in common or good, then I say they fail. But if you stay stumped, regard yourself as blessed. What we can figure out in the world we don’t need. What we can’t can, could, might save your life.
Like a stone.
Pal, there is genius in a stone.
And in no sense.
Hey, you think the annulling of reason such a cinch?
Go look at the lives of the true masons!”     (Gordon Lish)

Excerpts:

Clods of Dirt, Clumps of Grass

These inches meld
as cricks across
my land. Two

ghurries surround
this peculiar
enjoyment. No

pleasantries abide.
A facade of
unassailability.

And brazenly
played against.

When a Portion Remains

Finally, the
Adjunct mare.
Her gait leads

The lantern.
But here,
Beneath my

Shroud, is
Ancilla.
Familiar and

Attentive.