Tuesday poem #280 : John Phillips : NO PREFERENCE

for Jasper Johns 


Sometimes I think it, and then write it.

Sometimes I write it, then think it.
Sometimes it writes itself, then thinks me.
Sometimes it thinks itself, then writes me.
Sometimes neither it or me thinks or writes.

Each of these situations is impure.

John Phillips is the author Shape of Faith (Shearsman Books, 2017), Heretic (Longhouse, 2016), What Shape Sound (Skysill Press, 2011) and Language Is (Sardines Press, 2005), along with several chapbooks.  He presently lives in St. Ives, Cornwall.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan