or
"From the Arms of One Man Into The Arms of Another"
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for Theodore
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In view of the human condition,
the only sustainable posture is one of humor."
Pirandello
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I walk into doors to everyone's delight
I constantly step on the toes of those I happily kiss
I smash into strangers while shaking hands
I wrap my arm around the dark lamp-post putting on
my coat in the rain
I drop all the papers I'm holding
I trip on the rug
I slip on the waxed floor on my way to the door
ruining a graceful good-bye only the whippet
understands me only the parrot and maybe
the comet who knows what it means
to be perfectly in orbit and still crack up
just because something gets in your way just because
something else didn't know you were coming
forgot to move or couldn't and there you were
spinning around each other for a moment then
flung out again quite breathless and puzzled
into that silent icy realm between the outer edges
of the solar system and the nearest stars
where it is never 10:30 or noisy city or mid December
when we see you O Kohoutek whose head is really
in the clouds huge ones of hydrogen atoms
containing the mysterious source molecule
I have the same problem I can't really see where I'm
going either and yet a tremendous force is shooting
me forward at terrifying speed.
sequins and opals taunt the regular dark
radiation pressure buckles the tail away from the sun
into telescopes and notebooks Schmidt camera and
scientific data a gorgeous answer
some think comets the last change to find primordial material
to know who or what peered up from the fire and grunted
last time you came by 10,000 years or so ago
nameless & nonchalant
with your secret of inner economy & longevity
we are desperately roaming the streets for such things!
and some bored by it all
like the man on my bed
languishing telling me everything bores him
Get a telescope I want to tell him I just want
to scream Get a telescope!
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LOVE SONG FOR T.
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The moss makes soft green bumps along the shore
like when I had hives on my butt
soft pink slightly raised circles
and the doctor said "Looks like an allergy,
go home and sit down and try to think of all
the new things that have come into your life
in the last few days, you're probably allergic
to one of them" and it was the day after the
first afternoon I had made love with you
& I thought Oh No!
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WHO NEEDS IT
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the skaters dodge the way you lie across the ice
Down again! Most friends will dodge you too
noting only the color of your sweater the
amazing sheen of your frozen gloves as they
glide past netting blue & silver light.
it is equivalent to the feeling things aren't
going to go the way you planned. He has handed
you a slip of paper on which nothing is written
yet it says "At a certain age
you will toss your morals to the wind"
Oh Daphne
who refused love from the start
I too want to be done with the folly of beginning!
We clapped and clapped when the terrible singer had finished
so relieved it was over we rose to our feet and descended
Only those trying to impress their escorts were smiling.
There are others with such irreversible clarity that
lying beside you at night they will simply say --
Please take your elbow out of my eye -- or will remain
full length on your bed watching you Rebuff
to answer anything
Sobriety that chokes the heart!
One would have better luck speaking to a landscape.
because of this my life has been
The Soggy Pillow Testimony.
When Hemingway shouted up "What am I going to do? I
have no typewriter!"
Dorothy Parker leaned over the rail of the Rotterdam
and threw down the brand new portable she had bought
to use on the voyage. Had it been me
I would have shouted back "Sell some of your fishing tackle!
..... Ernest"
I can get dressed by myself
I know which way is North
Even without Nietzsche, Milton, or Wittgenstein
I know enough to ask Where is the gate to paradise?
I can walk
I can answer
I can bend
with the one who ties his sneakers & says
"I'm leaving this circus"
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HOW TO GET BY
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I often wonder
just to get your attention
I am usually indifferent to what I tell you,
scarcely endangered by hysteria
I remain on the coast
& never go out further than where I can stand up.
The lazy valley is destroyed every afternoon
promptly at 4
after that we have tea
& go to the volcano at 6.
Myself, I enjoy seeing deserts being made
& I try to be there at 8 every Tuesday.
Children seem to like watching the mountains
forming
and are often dazzled as we trace a river
to its first raindrop.
I remember having to diagram a rainbow in
the sixth grade -- it left me limp for hours.
Also I received particularly high marks
during the term on thunderstorms
(& here is where the girls excel --
the boys being better at dissecting clouds).
But, looking back, it's the words of a bent
hooded old matron that I've come to depend
most upon
"My dear," she rasped, resting her shoulder
on the wall of the cave where we were observing
the development of stalactites, "My dear, sweet
almond oil, oil of rosemary, & two drams of
cocoa oil massaged gently into the underarms
& insteps will carry you through
almost
any situation."
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NEMESIS
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A momentary fragment of a minute occasion
as you cut the cards The Queen of Swords
I remembered, what it was that had inspired me
the missing figure in a sudden photograph
a space
whose body hadn't caught up with it yet
a consequence of postures preceding dynamism
You zip your pants tuck in your shirt
& buckle your belt
You are born & ready to go!
Out of the bathtub & into the night
a little silhouette of pathos
You're out on the street with a maniac
refusing to listen to me & yet
I pause at your uncanny ability to adjust
in the face of tumultuous error
to leave & then come back like that --
to be so at home in the antecedent.
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FANTASY 28
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A complicated network of brackets by the balustrade
of the verandah blue & white porcelain full of
magnificent cherry branches, their blossoms overflowing
to the very foot of the railing. Pillows of laburnum,
golden yellow. Patterns of another sort hung loosely
over the shoulders of an elaborate canopy
the many-colored interior inlaid with mirrors and
mother-of-pearl under the window rim echoes of
a cataract muffled by clouds low soughing of pines
my feet on the soft straw matting I bring you
the juice of grated radish leaves in a kaolin cup
with the colorless glaze of the T'ang lustrous as jade
on a tiny almond tray with opal fingers you lift
and sip "Exquisite!" you pronounce
but just as I look up I realize! you're not satisfied.
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Something happened this weekend that broke my heart
I'm not even sure what it was but I've decided
to give all the moss I brought home away
for Christmas presents really it's beautiful &
I don't want it around What has changed? very little . . .
the flight of stars & bio luminescence are visible
from 2nd ave jackhammers attend us as we
browse through all the markets sizable explosions
puff steel netting into knee-high air
Oh Construction so perfect & mysterious
& beyond low hills outside the city Should I
quote you that it is dirty noisy crowded & say
I love it! What would you think if by the misty
reservoir you found me lacking in presence dissatisfied
with solitude
To be alive is to be a Great Noise!
The esplanade lined with palm trees in a hurricane!
Remarkable beads of sweat & shoes! that take us where
we want to go! Even on sidewalks it is Fall or Winter
Spring or Summer & always with enthusiasm!
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Go ahead Spit the mushrooms I cooked so perfectly
back into your plate mumbling something about
sand See if I care! Outside that door
an entire segment of history is waiting to treasure me
I'm fated to be rich and spoiled Pampered by millions!
Wafting towards breakfast under globs of crystal and
gold leaf my trains of snowy chiffon and dotted swiss
bounce off the marble columns breathless
and outrageous even in the rain
even with my satin slippers soaked!
Through halls so oceanic the Arabic and Persian rugs
form archipelagos
against the walnut knobs of the velveteen
loveseat against wicker settee
& the drawing room chair with the great swollen rose
painted on cretonne
Crush these flowers for my sunken bath!
and listen
you can hear
colossal foamy gardens squeezing up
between the toes of the serpentine goddesses
The all-night daricers still reflected in the pool
onlookers swathed in discarded fruit rinds
curtains drifting out over the goldfish .............
One flitting afternoon you might stand
cooking your own mushrooms realizing "What a blunder!"
to have lost her to the pearls and the polo ponies'
Pin stripes and pastels linen and lavender silk
O Pardon my Snobbery!
my Rapture
my weeping! into the
imported folds of this pink shirt
while palominos gallup through sprinklers on private grass
& under gaudy yachts white birds have surfaced like these
Damned mushrooms on the sea!
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"Must I be born with so little art
as to love the one who would break my heart"
Buffy Sainte-Marie
LAMENT OF THE WOMEN
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Yes! I am your humble servant my knees bleed!
Always at pledge bowed before you
I throw my whole life to the dogs!
Strew rugs of balm and lavender under your feet
Here! Take these hands these eyes!
I will be the end of perfection for you
the last sentence the answer to everything!
Maintaining the perfect order the valuable beauty
long after my strength has failed me
I will begin anew
In one afternoon I will be 10 women No twenty!
My forehead damp my arms feverish to finish in time
these tortuous accomplishments promptly devoured
this eternal reconstruction. All for you my exhaustion!
the driven spirit parched & staggering
who has oiled the oaken floors there to sink at last
Your footstool! your simple handmaiden
in the blazing rays of these polished lamps
the effect like a song in color!
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HONESTY
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Honesty is all right for men, but I don't
think it does a woman any good at all.
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FANTASY 22
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O to be young & neglected! Left alone for long
unguarded hours in the ruined palace. The delicious
yield of the marvelous rugs and tapestries! To roll
with wild abandon down flights of smooth cool marble
stairs & get up bruised & tortured by love!
exhausted in the tangled garden overgrown
exotic shrubbery stinging your thighs & shoulders.
To leap into icy waters of bronze fountains & gasp
for breath. Here are diamonds that shatter on your hair.
& the thick wings of the peacocks. Loose trousers
of the night, dark purple that billow & fold with a
shudder. I sat beside you on the bed my senses
reeling. Forehead pressed through torn silver lame
to lean on a clear cold window The palace hounds
withdraw along velvet corridors & now to follow them!
To fling from balconies into enchanted
rosewood drawing rooms
To swoon! To drop upon mauve servants in
immaculate dress. To slide your ear along Persian
silk divan & insist on silence! O to be young &
neglected Left alone for long unguarded hours
in the ruined palace!
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OVERLAPPING CULTURES
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Yesterday I sewed your kimono
& today I sewed your burnoose
Last week the goose-down hunting jacket --
What country am I in anyway?
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A magazine in the face
well, it's more than a puff of smoke
flashy as the splender solis on
those little pearly treetrunks that dance
around your tongue
I'd like to go up to the mountain with you sometime
talk awhile then fall behind & change my shape Grey
& rangy as my coyote sisters
I know you'd totally freak-out
as I stalked you up the mountain
drooling hunger & howling at the fleshcolored sun
Ah Ha! You'd really be moving then slipping &
sliding up the sheer cliffs
grasping at crumbly rocks, scurrying on
cut palms & torn pantknees Then
I'd circle round rush on ahead
change my shape back & greet you
as you came crawling over the glass-sharp cliff
share my lunch with you give you some wine
maybe talk about old times maybe I'd
even mention this evening when you threw
a magazine in my face
or maybe I wouldn't
just stare into the sun & catch
the glint of steel in my eye casting it down
in front of us on the path feel it burst
under our boots with the inconsistency
of granite plans.
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The night you threw the I Ching
across the room I thought
this is it He's snapped.
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"i blew my way to the top"
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Her fingers expert the air
anomalous memories
when she doesn't have the things her lover
loves anymore.
Clothes through the open grating of the window
Hard knuckles on the floor
characterized by outlines without substance
a subtle difference on a big threshold.
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The storm
I cross the room in a hurry to touch you.
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L ON THE TRAIL
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SPEED!
big toes and ankles
go up red oak saplings
bend down tie tops together
"We'll sleep on top," you said excitedly,
pointing way up.
"Indians had to find out what
was edible by tasting a little piece
of different things they came across
in the woods. We'll do the same!" you said,
your mouth full of leaves & grass.
squatting
pits & bubbles of black earth
around your toes
WHACK rocks together
sparks flicker in dry leaves
sun going down on your back,
a weightless atmosphere above the moon
drops cosmic blackness filled with
minute spear points of light.
Later in front of the fire
mentioning a stomachache
hoping you hadn't eaten too many
too juicy
different kinds of vegetation.
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SYMMETRY
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Going to bed 2 AM
world view completely shattered
tie-dyed a tee-shirt for my man
2 circles on the front
3 circles on the back
that's one circle too many, he said.
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UP IN THE AIR
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Look through these binoculars
& you will see
that the children have painted tiny gardens
on the end of each lens
& that through this washy greenery
Antonin Artaud runs screaming
"Motorhead! Motorhead!
flinging out from his brow
droplets of mercury
little balls like the disconnected bellies of
fat dwarfs
forming hexagrams at his feet.
The Great Northern Elk & the Caribou
obscured slightly by the lush outcroppings
are entranced by Artaud
he deciphers the lines for them
they graze and nod from time to time
I am only mentioning this to remind you
how it is.
You will only find wonder in the first encounter
after that a vast indifference & then
finally
friendship
But what a hoax!
A smile circling the bone your teeth are busy on.
Standing in the doorway dressed for skiing
Applying these moments to your life.
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The Christmas tree fell on you
while you were sleeping
you were lovely
your pale face amid the green fragrant branches.
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"WANTING YOU"
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While you were going up the hill in the
stunning snow the dazzling crystals that
floated & fell in the streetlights
Snug inside your black 1930s coat, images
of your "Goodbye Goodbye rehearsed vivaciously
in my mind a sudden cynosure where my attention
knelt in rapt admiration So made with love!
So frantic with desire! Again and again I watch
you turn before me That slightly inclining
three-quarter turn Your gloved hand poised
the overwhelming irresponsible joy of your voice
as it stepped into the gay Russian Troika the
stamping steaming horses! the gold & blue banners!
My heart left me then tumbling & splashing up
the hill the snow melting where it touched
Waking up alone I explode from the bed
nervous & shaking in this steamy room
It is these moments that have led me here
this need I have to sleep beside you
that has caused all the trouble in my life.
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LET'S TAKE IT HARD
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It would be more meaningful
if we met by mistake
chaos & grit on the whirling roads
in the midst of artillery & refugees
After 10 long years of separation
than for me to be living
in a little blue-tiled villa
in Greece or Naples
& you come in under the honeysuckle arbor
in the middle of summer
& sit down & have some wine.
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When you're down and under and crushed and shattered
smashed and trodden and beaten, bamboozled, kicked and
destroyed lost out, gone mad, fell back, shot up,
done in, wiped out When your heart is broken and
your nose is running, your days are numbered, your lot
is cast, you're wasted, worried, choked up and ruined
left out, disinherited, sweating, frustrated, alone and
demolished, hopeless, despairing, depressed and insane
you're lousy you know it you wish you could change
Your coat's ripped, your nose is crooked, your brain is
mush, your hands are cursed, your life is worthless
and you're uncomfortable a hunchback, a sucker,
a recluse, a frog When you know you can't make it
You're hideous, helpless, pusillanimous, squirrelly and
dumb
just bear in mind
that 9/10's of everything
is posture
Stand Up!
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FED UP!
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Call the planes the schedules the air fare
I'm leaving! I'm going this is it I'm through
finished Call the trains the taxies
I'm going Greyhound I'll hitch part way
It's the last straw I'll walk jump a freight
take a tugboat join a yachting party catch
a ride I've really had it! Few people have
lived to be as through as I am! I'm not staying
here another minute! I'm packing right now
So Long! you're going to miss me Where's my
suitcase where's my boot
where's the keys where's the door
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ABAY-O
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The little island sinks in your face
How remarkable
too few imagine the impossible
& yet we are here!
See he attacks the plants with the scissors.
White triangles blaze in your eyes,
spooky and informative as cologne.
The trees part for the bus,
the bus becomes a part of the trees,
you are parting from me,
I can no longer see you.
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TRAVELING
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I left it.
That was my burst of exuberance for the
entire stay.
The letters that followed were dug up
out of a box in the attic
events had gone by obvious to no one
Subtle mechanisms
slick as otters under water
a man
taking you out of joy &
into your clothes
for the sake of it
a last resort
when you run out of sexuality on the open road.
Random productions begin sticking to every bush
& passing truck
we became the universe's reaction
to Itself.
annoyed
hassled
How awful!
in terms of tragic endearment
we were accustomed to the original
& now this
these repetitious cities
at the peak of attention
modern miracles
at ease with time.
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FANTASY 29
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I see myself with you and fantasize the heroine.
You never love me but you are awed and hypnotized
by my power over events and the surrounding
environment.
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FANTASY 19
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Transfigured now my torso darkens below the
violet bandana rain drops from silver ear-hoops
from tattooed shoulders to the clammy steaming
deck of the galleon. Between my moody fingers
the latticed sea roils. On the way to the Arabic coast
wearing nothing, but my jeans
Oh the native sons & daughters
they will fall on their faces along the beaches!
My teeth flashing in the glint of the Mediterranean
on my knife. I am barely smiling.
My high-pitched laugh pierces the little swells of foam
the prow of the brave ship I took from the Spaniards
dips into the water the crew I found three days ago
floating on a rotting wooden raft plots to murder me
spittle & salt sparkle in their soggy mustaches
bad magic in their blades they huddle under
the poop deck massive arms & necks
too terrified to move. I don't even turn around
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for Helen Adam
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The world
goes by
in orgasm,
Churning
blue
with energy
clouds froth out
glitter
milky
in the sunlight
I walk toward the mailbox
The road to the east is empty
to the west
4 black crows hassle a dead rabbit
Freaky cries
in the still air
Bran is back.
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Yang Chu said: "You may do good without
thinking about fame, but fame will come
to you nevertheless. You may have fame
without aiming at pelf, but pelf is sure
to follow in its wake. You may be rich
without wishing to provoke emulation
and strife, yet emulation and strife will
certainly result. Hence, the superior person
is very cautious about doing good."
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MOVIES
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The hero was
cowardly
pathetic
sniveling
base
immoral
apolitical
greasy &
self-deluded
I identified with him totally.
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for Ted
BIRTHDAY KISSES
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After the mass of brilliant blossoms & the night
I have come by the granite basin under the fountains
over a lot of steps
kicking wattle nuts along the flawless tiles
OH even this wild Northern with its shifting whites
and lighter greys that drift across the square
is full of kisses for you & thoughts of kisses
& maneuvers & plans of kisses Baths of kisses!
Birthday kisses!
wild about kisses
I throw myself upon you clasping your waist
excessive heat distorting the snow around us
melting the crystals on your thick boyish lashes just
like a novel whose frenzied excitement sends us
into cataleptic trance, I would try anything
I could think of to land in your arms Without
the slightest difficulty beside myself with joy
somersaulting out of bed like an athlete
to fall on my face again & swear eternal love!
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THANK YOU, AMERICA
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And Oh Wheaton!
for your shirtless hot youths!
intoxicating chests buffeted by the breeze
in the rolled-up sleeves of their faded levis
terrific muscles under their open shirts
i could smother in caresses a posture
just between the cab of Dodge pick-up and
the gravel drive
standing on the springboard of a red grain truck
tan-armed hand on the rolled-down window rim
I weep on the dashboard kissing those locks of hair
Hugging the necks of that wild shyness
Where is the applause of a crowd of enthusiasts
for a jaunty torso barely inclining forward
sliding from the seat I press to my eyes the image
OH Moocher of my peace A body slightly in the air
halfway to the ground
all bravura and boldness before the grain elevators
Armfuls of sky! Heavy dark boots and light tousled hair
Such beauty rips me limb from limb!
I'm not a crazed sex maniac it's anatomy
these supple joints the sporting step that takes them
dazzling blond hair brushing their shoulders
blue eyes dashing forward
bounding up the feverish drowsy streets of
Wheaton, Minn. pop. 2,209 Right past me
sitting here the hottest blow job in town!
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On the morning of the first night
I woke up before you
when you woke up we were looking at each other
you didn't say I love you and
neither did I
then I went into the kitchen
the magic mushrooms were like red & yellow
cushions
I boiled an egg and brought it to you
the room was very round
you said this is the most perfect hard-boiled egg
I've ever eaten
I said
I'm a terrific cook!
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A man is always saying to me "Get out of my light"
or "Will you sit down" Similar
to those whitish flowers tinged with faintest yellow,
pink, or greenish I am seldom where others expect me to be
"Come to bed," he demanded "What are you doing?"
I was on the toilet madly making plans
to impress him. Arriving
at the gallery 4 days after the show had closed
I sauntered nonchalant among the blank walls
and then quickly took the elevator down "You Idiot!"
I said to myself when I reached the street
This is what Nijinsky meant when he wrote "the maids
have become stupid" as though some part of himself
had failed him by their actions.
The tires slid on the ice I drove continually in wrong lanes.
Lost in wonder and amazement I so often forget
The wheels are in my hands! And we go driving over bumps
and curbs astonished by the purple glaze on the snow.
Almost at the top of the nearly perpendicular hill
halos of yellow broke over the jeep "O The Moon" I
shouted pointing stopping in second gear having to shift
to first and rolling almost to the bottom before starting
back up. Ruth St. Denis created EGYPTA
after receiving inspiration from a cigarette poster
in a drug store. Did she stare open-mouthed drooling?
or spill her soda or bump into customers?
Did the man she loved have to say "Turn here! Turn here!"
or "You're grinding the clutch!" or "You've left the
lights on ... again ......."
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THE CONFESSION
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Which shall I tell you first
that I finally saw a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
drumming on adjacent willows or that
I ripped the top of the jeep
backing out of the garage And don't
say anything about it being the "Classic"
little woman wrecks new car
just after my being told I was an insurance
risk the garage is too low in the first place
& I'm just learning to drive a stick shift anyway
and if a man does something like that it's just
an accident but if a woman does
it's because she's a woman Since it's our car
the roof can be my half now and don't forgive me!
I don't want your forgiveness!
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the great Yu of the Shia Dynasty before
he became emperor he was the minister in
charge of flood control .......
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Be careful not to say too quickly "He's putty in my hands"
or you may appear in midnight downpour digging a trench
in frozen ground half an acre of melting snow around your
ankles & Tired of being that Scorched Romantic figure
smoldering in drowned weather of ruined exhausted charm
& feverish sick of the soppy rayon of the theme!
a story so complicated it can only be told in 83 episodes
Once I was on the phone and then face to face
both equally disastrous he did not even have the decency
to stamp his foot when he said "You sat on your ass."
it was like finding yourself still reading a story
you could tell from the first page wasn't going to be
worth it. He actually said "You have no rights
Moral Law alone makes you my prisoner
Your Karma will get you.... "
a dangerous pause "think about it"
No! I refuse to be the one responsible for everything
the Japanese Plum blossoms in severe cold
and through all this my mission remains clear
I am the Tooth Fairy!
embodying that accepted logic that will give me magic powr
to trade silver for enamel and still come out ahead
"What an excellent thing it is," Confucius said,
"to be able to find a source of consolation in yourself!"
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Because of the uneven distribution of wealth
I am a person who makes mistakes
A lack of money causes insecurity
Insecurity causes indecision and it is
Indecision that makes me awkward & clumsy
While I identified the flower
as the Late Purple Aster We
ran out of gas ................
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"Where there's writing, there's hope" She
once told me crossing a street
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Just because the sea is calm doesn't mean that
I can drop you at the airport with a cheerful kiss
calling out "See you in five days"
Thanks to you
I now can tell the song sparrow the white throat and the
chipping sparrow apart & be happy just to
crouch with one foot in the chilly swamp a
shivering arabesque in darker night folded
fingers poised on flashlight switches Desiring
only a view of some frog's head as it
emerges from oozing tufts Singing the song
that brought us here
toot! toot!
three dozen throats we can't see a chorus
of tin whistles as invisible as hocus pocus &
the famous Silver Sign the constellations hold
All Is Not Lost! it reads
Does Nature really know something we don't?
In Japan there is a mountain named Monkey Mountain
but there are no monkeys on it long ago
there were thousands however, civilization advanced
and the monkeys fled Now tourists read the placard
Monkey Mountain & stand squinting into the trees
gesturing without the slightest reservation.........
With him my love just flew out the window he didn't
bother to look up as it went by. Desperation!
that made me too serious for my own good. Even the Jesuit
grinned, "You get 20, 25 priests holding confession it
just goes like nothing."
Crazy icy night, that goes by talking to itself
"You Bum! You leave us high and dry and call that
information!" Once I had nothing now so much is
at stake my teeth are chattering & I had wanted to
grow up calm and lyrical like the sea
on our way to the airport
O Sunday water in this big dish!
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"She's a real tough cookie" -- Susan Howe
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"He has a stick up his ass" You Put it so well! Overwhelmed
by his charm, arrogance, eloquent taste, and brilliance I had
not recognized the rigid back the myopic courtesy. At the opening
ignoring the fact that I was holding a drink in my hand he
continued to shake it sloshing wine all over ourselves and the
small crowd that was gathering. A dizzy vapor
shifts across the Spartina Patens sulphur-colored grasses hide
the tidal flats the gull shakes his head to get rid of the brine
and what I do is functional too!
I am no lonesome decoration on the shore
noticed only in the absence of others! A friend who was so tough
she simply said of the poor old professor in the ballet "He shoulda
got one while he was young" That same girl seated balanced
on a thin rail holds over her head a leafy branch from one of the
shade trees to ward off the advancing rain. She is tilted slightly
backward
as though extending a hand to fend off blows of heavenly retribution.
Another darker woman crouches on 31st and Broadway modestly taking
a sponge bath while early morning crowds pour by. Dipping a rag
into a battered tomato tin filled with water she discreetly lifts the green
frock away from her body with one hand and washes with the
other
"We must not weep so that we may not be comforted" wrote Simone Weil
--There are ways of making the worst suffering bearable -- Absent
one leg Sarah Bernhardt went on acting. P.T. Barnum offered her
$10,000 for the amputated limb and the right to exhibit it.
________________________________________________________________________________
for Orhan
Veli
Kanik
________________________________________________________________________________
You said that you'd come up
and bring the Vail Tails &
the Algae Eater the tank
& all the stones and shells
some sand You'd bring the
bike and cowboy hat.......
But the cat you said had
fallen in love
and you didn't want to separate them
________________________________________________________________________________
a dreary poem
________________________________________________________________________________
The day was made bearable
to look at by the sun
which floated over everything
the murky distant air
the blurry separate ports with
their chipped & peeling boats ....
I have finally learned how
to kiss someone good-bye
________________________________________________________________________________
come kiss me on the neck and nose
and in the eye and hand
Don't call me when the weather blows
to tell me you've been canned.
for r and m and s
________________________________________________________________________________
Don't crack up Go koo koo off the rocks
get soaked Don't loose your marbles Twitch
your tea Be harried License revoked. Don't
hold your breath Lose precious sleep. Snap
your cap Pop your buttons Blow a fuse Short out!
Don't go under Freak off the scene Drown your hopes
& Pout Don't let this old world get you down
and others get your goat Don't sink your ship
Snap your cookie Up a tree Not wrapped too tight
they'll say. Don't come unglued Be in a stew
Let a screw come undone Get sapped. Don't go turkey
Bees in your bonnet Cook your goose Have bats
in your belfry & worse Don't go out of your gourd
Loose your cool Let it throw you Be bowled over
Come unstrung Don't go batty End up dotty
weeping doorsteps midnight phone calls Friends who
wish you'd sit up straight!
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
O Alkaline sap of the Ash
gone blue in autumn purple in tone
Reddest Sweetgum Sumac and dogwood Oak &
Poplar Aplomb in birch and Scarlet. Tulip tree
& Willow bright yellow Beech Mahogany & Prune Vermilion
O Racy Sassafras Redbud Blueberry in flame with Rose
& Orange
Bounce off these windshields as we go
laying rubber past old high schools Yelling "Dactyls!
Sestina Iambic Pentameter!" at the top of our lungs
Crashing through drifts of Ginko leaves
There are times when you must throw yourself overboard
in order to survive
the salty tourmaline moon and the stars
they are lovely and cannot be entered by reason
... or..rondel ...........
________________________________________________________________________________
YELLOW YO-YO'S
________________________________________________________________________________
For years I was an outlaw
Wanted by the law in Frisco
married to one man living with another
children it seemed all over the place
then I went straight
Caesar & Brutes
Anthony & Cleopatra
Abbott & Costello
Lewis & Clark
Damon & Pythias
Burns & Allen
You & Me, Kid
my angel in the morning
I can hardly see for the golden
feathers all over the bed
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________________________________________________________________________________
Standing in the evening
I heard a horse Snort
it was the sea . .
the tide coming in . . . . . . .
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Copyright 1977 by Maureen Owen.
First published in Big Deal 5 edited by Barbara Baracks. Long out of print, it is presented here complete.
Light and Dust @ Grist Mobile Anthology of Poetry.