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Elephant Rocks
by
Kay Ryan

What would the self
disrobed look like,
the form undraped?
There is a flimsy cloth
we can't take off—
some last chemise
we can't escape—
a hope more intimate
than paint
to please.

That Will to Divest
                   Milan Kundera

Action creates
a taste
for itself.
Meaning once
you've swept
the shelves
of spoons
and plates
you kept
for guests,
it gets harder
not to also
simplify the larder,
not to dismiss
rooms, not to
divest yourself
of all the chairs
but one, not
to test what
singleness can bear,
once you've begun.

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KAY RYAN'S new collection of poems, Elephant Rocks, was published by Grove Press in 1997.  "Chemise" and "That Will to Divest" first appeared in The Dark Horse poetry journal
No. 7 (Winter 1998-99).

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