The will to sadness

“la volonté de tristesse”—drawing by Alejandra Pizarnik (from The Galloping Hour: French Poems)

one ought to remain at least partially buried at all times

let lost pieces of oneself get eaten by opossums

one must learn to read the paper upside-down and backwards

give names to the flies but not to the joyful spider

and when one is invited to dance one must not cling as if drowning

one who is oneself a sort of small salt lake

one must follow decorum as one follows the weather

everything one knows about rhythm one learned from the rain