boiling water

 

.

A serious moment for the water is 

when it boils

And though one usually regards it

merely as a convenience

To have the boiling water

available for bath or table

Occasionally there is someone

around who understands

The importance of this moment

for the water—maybe a saint,

Maybe a poet, maybe a crazy 

man, or just someone

temporarily disturbed

With his mind "floating"in a

sense, away from his deepest

Personal concerns to more

"unreal" things...

A serious moment for the island 
is when its trees
Begin to give it shade, and
another is when the ocean
washes
Big heavy things against its side.


One walks around and looks at
the island
But not really at it, at what is on
it, and one thinks,


It must be serious, even, to be this 
island, at all, here.

Since it is lying here exposed to 
the whole sea. All its


Moments might be serious. It is
serious, in such windy weather,
to be a sail
Or an open window, or a feather
flying in the street...

Seriousness, how often I have
thought of seriousness
And how little I have understood
it, except this: serious is urgent


And it has to do with change. You
say to the water,
It's not necessary to boil now,
and you turn it off. It stops


Fidgeting. And starts to cool. You
put your hand in it
And say, The water isn't serious
any more. It has the potential,


However—that urgency to give
off bubbles, to
Change itself to steam. And the
wind,


When it becomes part of a
hurricane, blowing up the 
beach
And the sand dunes can't keep it 

away.

Fainting is one sign of 
seriousness, crying is another.
Shuddering all over is another
one.

A serious moment for the
telephone is when it rings.
And a person answers, it is
Angelica, or is it you.

A serious moment for the fly is
when its wings
Are moving, and a serious
moment for the duck
Is when it swims, when it first
touches water, then spreads
Its smile upon the water...

A serious moment for the match 
is when it burst into flame... 
Serious for me that I met you, and
serious for you
That you met me, and that we do
not know


If we will ever be close to anyone
again. Serious the recognition
of the probability
That we will, although time
stretches terribly in
between... 

—Kenneth Koch

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