LATE NIGHT WITH MANDELBROT

LATE  NIGHT WITH MANDELBROT

"Until fractal geometry became organized, my life followed a fractal orbit."

                                                                   Benoit B. Mandelbrot

On the night before your late birthday, it is always necessary

to suggest a sorrow to the deer about to lose its life

to the bow of a farmer's daughter,

to the cauliflower sleeping sadly in aisles

in grocery stores across these states,

and to the mountains which are not cones,

but what you live for, after the astronomers name

a planet after you, after a fractal life.

                                                   After giving you

                         honorary membership in Ontario,

                         the United Mine Workers have all gone home

                         to their wives, the young boys in America

                         have all gone to die overseas. 

          On Soapography, two actresses are discussing

everyone's personal heaven, and in another room

you can hear a woman who is your dead mother

combing her hair in a doctor's smock in a dream,

as you wait in your chair for something complete,

as you wait for that last instant message from God.