TOY ELEGY
︎︎︎ Eliot Cardinaux
︎ Feb 4, 2023
Locus, location, luster
low-sodium sister
where in zero have you been
waiting for a monostich
of color. Where in
the book have they led me
now that it’s here & there
in the wind & in your hair
Such a small poor text
the shard & its magnifying
glass, in Worcester & Gloucester
the center & its mass
Where in Boston are you from?
I’m from the mentor class
The music box has not arrived
whose promises are sinister
Can you ask me what I
should & should not ask
what I know not to know
now, nothing, when it’s there
low-sodium sister
where in zero have you been
waiting for a monostich
of color. Where in
the book have they led me
now that it’s here & there
in the wind & in your hair
Such a small poor text
the shard & its magnifying
glass, in Worcester & Gloucester
the center & its mass
Where in Boston are you from?
I’m from the mentor class
The music box has not arrived
whose promises are sinister
Can you ask me what I
should & should not ask
what I know not to know
now, nothing, when it’s there
Eliot Cardinaux is a poet, pianist, & composer living in Western MA. His music is a blend of jazz & free improvisation with a nod to 20th Century western classical harmonies & textures. As a poet his influences range from Osip Mandelstam, Paul Celan, & René Char, to Tomas Tranströmer, Bei Dao, & Michael Palmer. @eliotcardinaux / bodilypress.bandcamp.com