The poem
Acknowledge the drum's whisper. Yield to its velvet Nudge. Cut a slow air- Curve. Then dip (hip to hip): Sway, swing, pedantically Poise. Now recover, Converting the coda To prelude of sway-swing- Recover. Acknowledge The drum-crack's alacrity - Acrid exactitude - Catch it, then slacken, Then catch as cat catches Rat. Trace your graph: Loop, ellipse. Skirt an air-wall To bend it and break it - Thus - so - As the drum speaks!