Ode to Supply

All the early distances are buried

distances, all the early
    systems were systems

    of measurement, what use
have we, for what we have

here is a list of our weekly duties,
and one must learn to live negligent

of—or else to breathe
        for these strange youths
cornered on a sailboat only
        by sea and shore and a civic pride—
Jacob and his scholar ride

—these seas about, these men

about; O, breathe, O, shore,
        what long, ridden passage
of land is this land of old kings

of India, gaslight
empire—we were
asleep and asleep in our languages.