tanka

    Occasionally,
 when I sense an excess
    of detail, I drop
 a descriptive element,
 or substitute a deeper

    meaning than the one
 the original intends.
    I avoid rhymings
 futile alliterations
 unnecessary systems

    of architecture
 in the construction of
    vain deconstructions —
 Thus, taking possession of
 a poet, I make him mine.
            . . .

    I write each word
 as if it were my last sigh
    and take each breath now
 as if it were the very
 last word I would ever breathe.