“Whatever Else Poetry is Freedom”

So whatever else poetry is freedom.Let
Far off the impatient cadences reveal
A padding for my breathless stilts.Swivel,
O hero, in the fleshy groves, skin and glycerine,
And sing of lust, the sun's accompanying shadow
Like a vampire's wing, the stillness in dead feet –
Your stave brings resurrection, O aggrieved king.
Irving Layton
Irving Layton died on January 4, 2006 in Montreal.