Noumenon Poem by RIC BASTASA

a thing-in-itself:

a wicker basket is a wicker basket
you cannot place love there, perhaps just plain fruits and
flowers
and perhaps even nothing

because a wicker basket is a wicker basket
nothing more nothing less

in the same manner, i am what i am
and you are what you are

what we feel for each other
or perhaps what i feel you alone
or only
is what i only feel
nothing more and nothing less

if i go somehow inventing that you shall love me
how absurd can this be!

for you are what you are and i am what i am
nothing more and nothing less

and so thanks, i am what i am and i will always be what i am
and you are you, and you do not know me,

and if i bleed, it is i who bleed only or
alone
and i have no right to let you know because you are what you are
and you shall never love me.