Formulas For Oblivion by Mark Strand

Formulas For Oblivion

1.  Casting the first stone after which the hands cast

 themselves and the arms and so on until you feel

you have cast yourself after the first stone

into oblivion.

2.  Eating your own words by which you will grow thin,

depleted, finally, of even a mouth to care for

the orphaned tongue or the tired foot.

3.  Turning yourself inside out so the features you are

known by become obvious secrets and the hidden

parts of yourself become a mask of honesty.

Thus you will never know who you are; oblivion

has begun to tell you who you are

4.  Lending the helping hand and keeping the other one

to yourself. The helping hand will feed your

friend, the other one will feel abandoned.

What happens is clear: you lose your friend

and die alone, a victim of the helping hand’s

selfish refusal to aid the other one.

5.  Cutting off your nose to spite your face. For the

beauty of absence is catching and the face will

want to spite the nose by having it back and then

will beg to be cut off from it. This will go on.

6.  Taking everything to heart and allowing yourself no

rest but what is impossible to take, which is

oblivion.

7.  Killing the thing you love and spending each night

with its ghost. Forcing your passion into an

absence is a common approach to oblivion.

8.  Sticking your head in the lion’s mouth and seeing

the remnants of your past: the tongue of your

father, the teeth of your mother, your own head

grinning back.

9.  Saving the best for last while consuming the worst

at the start. For the worst tastes better when

you know the best is to come. Doubts will arise.

After a while you may not believe the best will

be last and oblivion will take you for better

or worse.

10.  Giving yourself the benefit of the doubt which is the

surest and truest formula for oblivion.