BallSally_ThreePoems_2

8/6/2019 BallSally_ThreePoems_2

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N a r r a t i v e M a g a z i N e . c o M

Monsoon

I w a n t e d the storm to hit, sure more

thn I wnted the previous wether,

which ws dense,

numbing kind of pressure.

I must hve wnted the storm,

the strike of it.

Cen sk fter:

so utter open one gets dizz ooking out,fing w from the word

w nd w into nothing.

We wnted the storm? or required it—?

But needing to be hrrowed

nd being hrrowed—

even when ou provoke it somehow,

or vut there

it’s not s ou’ve imgined, not wht I

imgined. I cn’t deiver it: the nme

of the storm I ws register

s French pronoun, mine:

m swoon?

m imminent wht?

Three Poemsb y s a l l y b a l l

Sll Bll is ur

f Annus Mirabilis. S

is ssis prfs-

sr f eglis ariz

S Uivrsi

ssci ircr f

Fur w Bks. Bll livsi Scsl, ariz,

i r usb, t. M.

Mcnll, ir r

cilr.

T . M . M C N a l l y



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and even hving crved the storm,

(cowrd need)

even hving opened to its eectric vioence

(no hiding in the cer,

duct tpe cross the windows)

I must hve hd in mind ensuing calm,

not the front itsef.

and now the sk compete different—nd indifferent,

too. But cer.

a morning, our morning,

strs hed fst behind the ight.

Suture

t h e y S ay the ips

of the wound need

stitching together.

So much cn go wrong

t the site. Sience or join

nthing nd wonder

whether it tkes.

Rvenous fusion,

indifferent bcii.



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Der Mtthew

S o : h e h a d in mind to divorce her quiet. (1:19)

She hd in mind news chnne 4,hperboe but ced with fcts, best

dmntion b wht’s not sid.

Or she hd in mind to reconcie,

to be permitted gin the kindness

of desire, permission es to see him wecome

ove, his mouth soft.

Or ers of resentment, sm

bickerings, sm jos, sm bitter cogunts

ci, ici dhering

to the edges of the ivbe.

an nge intervened.

and hving been wrned in drem not to go bck to Herod, the returned to their

countr b nother route. (2:12)

The king, murderous. The wise men, wise,

who returned b n unexpected pth.

M countr, sweet nd,

interior.

Thret eve?

How coud we rrive home

in new w?

I’ve been wrned. Home m be desert

or desert ke.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentnce. (3:8)

Tuip of forgiveness;



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meon of pece.

It is form of obedience, this bsket.

I obe, even if ou don’t et.

St st. let our ight shine. (5:13–14)

The ight of st is ike the ight of gemstones,

fceted.

Though commonpce, nd svor.

St: intensies, provokes, tenderizes.

your wounds, our dinner.

How cn I be ight nd st?

Our ters Our ees

anger mounts to murder: so reconcie,

then come to the tr with our gift. (5:15–24)

Vscur, this poison of our nger.

We coud tret it with rw stek,

esh of some other,

s for wincing ee.

Or pp cntoupe’s

coo wrren of seed.

In which cse, gri the steks,

then set the crst vse nd the siverwre

outside, on the terrce, t the mosic tbe.

The ee is the mp of the bod. (6:22)

No bood for oi, but bood as

oi. liquid bue nd red



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ike sttes of mind,

or of the union.

Bood runs bue in the vesse,

goes red in the ir: sted nd drk

in sfer chnnes, rncorous

exposed: fue, the movement of fue—

deiver to ever pore.

M bod the gobe

round this ight.

Or is it the compoundfrom which ight cn emerge?

and so m ee signs

presence: the pce m be wrm,

there m be dinner there,

there m be someone sing grce.

lmpight mens tended re, fter .

Who of ou b worring cn dd singe hour to his ife? (6:27)

How did this question st

through the vetting nd revisions?

It sounds ike guru tk, TV.

Do we even wnt more ife?

Christ critiques the verb more thn its object:

worring, which mens onging, nd intending.

Insted it’s

yied ourseves. Be meons.

Don’t think: extend, control,

think: expand;



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think yield .

as in give w,

so hrvest. lemons, feons.

Reinquish nd generte—reinquish in order to generte.

I fe in ove with mker nd he died.

Seemed to die.

The nge ss I don’t know how to “die

into”—

—someone’s rms? gci chnge? the new? msef?

you m not wnt me to be ours.

But how cn ou be rid of me?

liies into the re? you cn et them.

Tiger, strgzer: powder stin t the corner of m ip.

But go nd ern wht this mens: I desire merc, not scrice. (9:13)

and three chpters ter, gin. Merc, not scrice. (12:7)

The esson bore repeting, reves

wht gods desire,

nd persons ck n instinct for.

as when:

one prtner discovers betr. Merc

we don’t fee with ese but understnd:

we know compssion fues

the ing down of rms.

But which sacrifce must be renounced?

the one where someone is thrown over, ed?

(et merc incudes tht reinquishment red, right?)



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so does he men no scrice in which someone

who’s been betred invites ddition mistretment?

Merc, we re ment to ern,

does not c for sef-erdiction—(re or drmtized)—

eusive cusp of merc where we ove chit-free.

Ever kingdom divided ginst itsef wi be ruined, nd ever cit or househod

divided ginst itsef wi not stnd. (12:25)

Der Mtthew, ou offer not knowedge but sop,

to cense mnner of certions,

tht we m see them, tht the not suppurte.

as for knowedge: wh mke Christ humn

if not to force our serch for nswers into ourseves.

answers, nd cts.

i.e., merc, not pit.

Not rge, not sef-deusion. Mercy.

The most honest humn choice,

since we re the sme,

nd since we wnt to be better than. We choke

on wht we think we deserve.

Merc honedew, sweet ice green

tht shines beneth the thickened rind.

Mke poutice of the iquid esh

nd shre it with the one ou’ve ws oved. nN

BallSally_ThreePoems_2

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