“la volonté de tristesse”—drawing by Alejandra Pizarnik (from The Galloping Hour: French Poems)
one ought to remain at least
partially buried at all times
let lost pieces of oneself
get eaten by opossums
one must learn to read the paper
upside-down and backwards
give names to the flies
but not to the joyful spider
and when one is invited to dance
one must not cling as if drowning
one who is oneself
a sort of small salt lake
one must follow decorum
as one follows the weather
everything one knows about rhythm
one learned from the rain