Ducks & Rabbits
in the stream;1
look, the duck-rabbits swim between.
The Mill Race
at Granta Place
tosses them from form to form,
dissolving bodies in the spume.
Given A and see2
find be3
(look at you, don’t look at me)4
Given B, see A and C.
that’s what metaphor5
is for.
Date and place
in the expression of a face6
provide the frame
for an instinct to rename,7
to try to hold apart
Gestalt and Art.
1 Of consciousness
2 The expression of a change of aspect is the expression of a new perception.
3And at the same time of the perception’s being unchanged.
4Do not ask yourself “How does it work with me?” Ask “What do I know about someone else?”
5Here it is useful to introduce the idea of a picture-object.
6A child can talk to picture-men or picture-animals. It can treat them as it treats dolls.
7Hence the flashing of an aspect on us seems half visual experience, half thought.
