The green minnow - by Robert Lax

the green minnow

bears a white &

black mark

at his tail


by which we

understand

what fish

he’ll be


(& all things

bear a mark

for the under-

standing)




your voice

in dark

is no

less, then,

your voice;


mine, from

behind you,

’s mine

as from

before



(whatever is

is mark’d first

as itself;


later, if ev-

er, as gener-

ic being.)


 

This poem was first published in the Robert Lax special issue of Voyages, vol. 2 no. 1 & 2, 1968