Meant

Rae Armantrout
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When the rat rests,
its brain

runs the maze again,
then runs it backwards,

and repeats.

This is early
music.

*

“Poetry wants
to make things mean

more than they mean,”
says someone

as if we knew
how much things meant

and in what unit
of measure.

*

Some chords (crowds)
seem sad—

because uncertain?—

while others
appear quite resolved

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