The Beginner's Guide to Beginning
for Rupert Loydell
Begin thinking about almost
nothing. Begin asking if there can be a very
nothing. Begin thinking about the word
death spelled from the inside out. Begin
humming a song whose words
you think you’d sing in-
correctly at the beginning
and throughout, hence hum.
Begin thinking
of how you visualized a mouse trap when you
were a child and had only seen one in
a cartoon, perhaps, or
think of what a perhaps trap would be
if you wanted to catch a perhaps, which perhaps
you never have. Begin thinking of how many people
never, in a conversation with you, lapsed
into a rhapsody about anything you felt
rhapsodic about, but don’t begin
complaining. Begin with your earliest memory of
sequins, then hum.
John Levy‘s most recent book of poetry is 54 poems: selected & new (Shearsman Books, 2023). He lives on the outskirts of Tucson with his wife, the painter Leslie Buchanan.
Amethyst Review 