Back Principles: Poems by Stephen Bett

Back Principles (1) : you have my back

You have my back,
will teach me
buddhist principles
for non-fretting

If you have my
back, nothing
to fret
about
(non?)

But seriously,
even backs
have a learn
ing curve
—none has
been bent to
break point
till now

You can heal it …?

I am astonished
—& begin
to believe you
( …yes)
 

Back Principles (14) : Keats & Rilke coming up again (& damned Spicer, too)

Who sees into me
… has mine heart?

Too easily tossed
(on a heap, on
a mound)

This inning is
future time
(grace time …?)

I would take
a pitcher
of you

Drink it, bat it
out of here
—whatever
it takes

I lose myself
completely, am
struck dumb
in your
buddha
love

Where is my
ground, where
is my Heysus
spinning to
now

This (heady) gain
is nerve loss
(also)

It is mystery
one enters
−−terrified
(& possibly
alive …)
Witless &
spooked,
& unafraid
to say so
(god help
me)

Look in mine
eyes & give
me your
strength,
I have none
that doesn’t
shake the bases
loose in the
night

Look in mine
eyes, I have
forgotten how
to see
 

Back Principles (19) : sapien & cowardly heart

Been through the agoraphobic’s
desert, Yuma at 117 degrees

Life in the furnace under
a terrifying open sky
(no place to burrow)

You say I need to en-
dure the sweat-lodge,
sleep with snakes
& scorpions
at my side
(every fear alive)

Live a full week
w/ the Terrors
(find the buddha …
or the christ
magnified?)

You say …
you say …

And in you I
surely trust
(god help
me …)

True soul
touch me,
ease me
(somewhat …)

Horror wherein lurks
the desert of my
sapien &
cowardly
heart
 

Back Principles (34) : spiritual fatigue

This is surely
spiritual fatigue
(on the loose)
(at loose ends)

Backed into a corner
(loosely speaking)

Back me, back
me not …

My back is knotted

Lies bound in a
locked drawer

When it creaks open
pray for something
merciful

Pray there is
something
there

You will not
have my back
beyond this
point

It will be loose
at ease, or it
will be
broken
 

Back Principles (39) : pockets empty

Yes, we have each
other’s back
… till death
do us part

I have no other
“principles”
left

Back left & back
right pockets
sitting on
empty
 

Back Principles (52) : agoraphobi

Big spaces are
made of this

Phoenix to Yuma
—terrifying

The christ to
the buddha …
terrifying too

Hold my back (pls)
the landscape
would break
it in halves

Agoraphobic,
big space

Holding emptiness
in my hands

 

Back Principles (58) : more than life itself

Your breath like some
kind of long
remembered
wind on his
face

Shake him closer
than ever

The christ love
& buddha love
are one

Get him there

You say to him
I love you more
than life itself

It is miracle
enough

The Divine lives
here, call it
what you will

Though we are in-
credibly small
the path just
got shorter
by two
breaths