MANUAL

MANUAL

this is the manual
that goes with
the reading
of this poem

it is not a manly manual
since it has to accept
shifts and slides
facts seduced
and opening themselves
up to
surprise reversals and
ongoing (nigh bottomless)
process of
constant interpretation
leading to
infinite possibilities for
re-
reading, rethinking, reinterpretation

and yet
even though metaphor
is itself a metaphor
is shot
through with metaphor

I do indeed need
to get my meaning across

this stanza break first up
but then
from me to you

so that you might run
with it, or perhaps walk
or at
least crawl

tenor vehicle literature
is a machine says Mr Calvino

but would
not wish for you
to stumble and fall
before
you are behind the wheel

before
you get the feel

before you are writing poetry for yourself