1

Theodore Enslin

Rock Face

tel-let

2000

100 were made.

tel-let

325 W. Tyler, Apt. B

Charleston IL 61920-1865

USA

Of a design that only men will see

If there is a joke

it is a joke implied

implied by what is serious

what is of weight

of a weight that cannot break

into a smile if it smiles

it is a frozen smile

a joke that is frozen in the rock

a smiling joke in what is serious

if what is serious is of weight

and still is smiling

or the smile is serious

not a joke no way to tell

an accidental smile

is nothing serious is not a joke.

If the rock is turned

the smile remains but turned

away We may not see it

may not see the smile

nor wonder if it is a joke

what would make a smile

upon the rock is not an answer

there is not a question

nothing questioned in the smile

or if the smile’s a joke

a grin a grin that smiles

may not be smiling

if the rock is turned

we do not see it smiling so

If the grin becomes a joke

it is a weight upon the smile

is more than joke implied

the grin turns grim as if

a storm had passed before the rock

had changed the face no smile

to mark it grin in darkness

weight beyond itself to hold

in gravity and not attracted

to its fellows rock and earth

no joke no smile is still

the outline of a smile as

accident as accidental

nothing serious grin or joke to be.

If the joke is turned upon the rock

nothing will turn the rock to face

a smile within its turning

nothing and the rock no thing to turn

rock lying in the dust rock

half forgotten why we picked it up

a business comic and yet was not

a serious business why we did

to bring it home a rock for comment

a rock for smiling in the comment

if a joke half serious become

a comment any comment given

as a joke a grin a smile

to lighten turning of the rock.

If the joke is pointed pointed this way

this way or that way is a point

a point to be made or a point

that would sharpen to cut

in the rock cutting a face

or a semblance something we see

as a face is a smile

in the face on the rock

as a point with a joke at the end

the end of a road that is narrow

perhaps the narrowest road in the world

but not the end it is pointed

a pointed joke saying it

how it is "here we made a point."

If we are joking it may be a smile

that is counter to what is in the rock

or it may be a counting something

a counterpart to what we see

or we think we have seen as the rock

does not wonder rock is no joke

and the joke not a grin is within us

if we are joking or if we are smiling

the joke has turned inward

a smile on the inside what is no longer

a tale from the rock what we make

of the rock and its interest to us

for a moment only a moment

left us is longer a rock that endures.

If the rock were returned to the sea

the sea which has formed it

made it a likeness what we think like

a face with a smile or a grin

would the sea soon destroy it

remove what is facelike renew it

or break it leave several

where now there is one facing us

away from the sea in the dust

which covers and wears it away slow

more slowly than water in wind

a rock which is turned and returned

as we look for a smile or a grin

as the joke as the rock in our keeping?

If the grin concedes a smile

a smile that continues from the rock

will almost leave it light and shadow

to contain it and remove it

a smile that concedes and leaves

a place we cannot see it

empty on the rock not serous

it is nothing we have seen

what we think we have have not

conceded and containing a smile

a smile proposed a smile forgotten

concession is the smile

concedes the rock to be a rock

no more than rock no less to be.

If the face has turned can it be

a turning of the rock as the rock

upturned has fallen turning

in vibration as there is a sound

that moves the earth or moving

was it earth that was the sound

the face has turned it is the rock

or is it what has turned the rock

or let the face turn smiling

was it sound that prompted turning

was it sound that could be understood

by smile or rock or both agreeing

face was turned or could it turn

the sound of facing as the sound of rock?

If the smile is removed and the grin

first lose the smile the grin goes

later not a loss to the rock

later the rock as tabula rasa

washed clean of its likeness

as the mind will have lost it

what we have thought of the rock

thinking first of ourselves our smiles

and our grins washed clean

that we are free as the rock is in freedom

free of the rock tabula tabula rasa

smile to the rock to the face

lost it is lost first as we sit

looking looking to find a face in the rock.

If the face should flow away

the sea to find it flowing

we will not know it nor care

the joke’s another place

but there are signs mouth

more fluid than its smile

a smile at middle distance lost

to an object as the rock

but never lost it flows

as changeable as memory

never a smile the same one

yet in singleness a smile

a wonder as of rainment

rainment tensioned in the rock.

f there is time a different time

will weather rock and differing

the things around the rock no time

a measure of another measuring

another meaning memory for the smile

is not our smiling if it is

in any way the joke where are the turns

in turning? as alien the distances

between the objects all are

objects differing as a judgement

is not valid sinking through

the sills of time that rot

the rock face falling through them.

If a fire passing should surround it

surround the rock the smile surrounded

altering the smile perhaps a grin

perhaps a smile of sorrow if

the face is cracked or melted

undergoes a change a frown

goes blank surrounded by the fire

that the fire has destroyed it

will destroy the rock we’ve known

destroy the mask of what we see there

rock in other forms remade

a fire passing as the water may have

that which framed the smile and left it

simple on a rock so cast to hand.

Wherever it was found a rock

a simple rock that lies in clutter

is remembered for its smile or grin

a joke that we have known or made

whatever is and taken from the rock

the rock’s example to remain

in dust wherever we have left it

earlier and later other faces

leaving and taking setting stone on stone

on sand or earth wherever

a rock remaining now and leaving

doubt or credence what we feel

so leave the rock to silence

pass over comment is the rock.

March 4-10, 2000

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