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













































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