Impossible to fault

A new poem by Jim Dine.

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Impossible to fault

you said “ I carry very

little shadow now “

for awhile i let it go.

Those childish voices

that expressed themselves

With the precision of darkness.

One evening , the great

Depression introduced herself

and she, using my body

Lived into an old age

According to the truth.

Parrot,

Can i work it with wax

And plaster

Again ?

Can i tool it

And re-scan it

Again ? Adding stuff

Like clay or gypsum,

Can we get it outside by Friday?

2 Hammers-

Can they be made so their heads

come off ?

Their handles break down

to 2 or 3 parts

and can I correct

in the machine?

When you see them move

Naturally like you do,

Then time stands still,

At the 90th birthday celebration,

Where all the people

I work with

Need some reality

And some need friends,

I make a list.

When you are intimate

You see evidence of

Personal privacy

it’s an obscure life

But not bound by the occasion.

Jim Dine

February 2025

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