21.2.10

Rain


Yes I am
the
SC in the debut
promotional copy,
blonde yes, single
yes but
hooping
parrot
drivel dumping
the action
all vegan
contemporary
all virgin
patriotic like
vacation
empty
vineyard
like a vineyard
our bed
and breakfast
some of that
antichrist
going on
we there
yet?
consumer
survey
on the scanner
easy as 1-2-3
deregulated
exchanged
the empire
falls more
quietly

16.2.10

Fable

Which one then
belongs to me
if all of it
has already
been taken?
Is this not
the parable?
Review in Golden Handcuffs

Under the Dome, Walks with Paul Celan

And further into #12 we run across some silly poetry by Robin Blaser....language is love being one of the silliest poems I've ever seen.....while reading Buk of late, Slouching Towards Nirvana...wondering why in the hell is this meaningful...other than the fact that he notes how impertinent it is to guess about such things and by the end of that magnificent tome, he reveals the dangers of living dangerously and not dying soon enough i.e. prior to the perfunctory embarrassment of poets who have outlasted their shelf life and then some...there is this wonderful response to a libretto written by Blaser. The response no doubt is better than the libretto:

http://www.goldenhandcuffsreview.com/gh12content/24.html

FACING UP TO THE SUBTERRANEAN STREAM
the challenge of Robin Blaser’s libretto
by Patrick Wright


This matter concerns me deeply as it does Black Moses who lent to me his copy of Fear and Trembling written of course by Soren Kierkegaard (and whenever I read such things I remember Joseph Campbell's advice to seek one's bliss through the company of stranger's and their books.....which I intersperse with a Regency Romance just for kicks and to make other people wonder what is going on to do such a thing!). What gets me is the notion that throughout all of these notable articles on such theological cul de sacs, not any or many or even one mentions the missing pieces. No wonder they end up sad, frustrated and writing more of the same...about each other, through each other, over each other.

"This need to go on is of ancient standing." -Kierkegaard
Miles and Miles

It would be impolite to be sick
right now, to run a fever
join the aches and pains
but if we did it together
at the same time, it might
just be a vacation.
Thirty hours is such a long
time to be apart
and that is what it is isn't it?
Riyadh-London-Chicago-Tucson
and then
you there, me here but at that
we are quite good.
Now you here (no snow or delay
beset you on your journey)
me, I am here, can touch you and if so,
then how about spending a day
sick in our bed, fever
running, clock ticking, the sun
shining together, all at once.

We might wake up.

15.2.10

Glue Factory

It won't go well if the ink cannot
remember, something so small
it cannot be erased, so large
it will not be found. Nearly
there, it's almost Tucson
in really bad timing
to wear the best dress
and bring several
bad examples to the airport,
the birds drown us
with their courage
and what about bird?
It isn't the job nor the laundry,
it isn't even the degradation.
The neighbors don't know yet
do they? Has anyone counted
the fingerprints, aroused
any curiosity at all?
All the index does
it does again,
it is outrageous,
those bricks were
already broken and the sand
in the right places, the tablets
could not melt or reconoit,
until the map was a map
and the road a road,
no friend could assume
the lesson or that one
hoped to sell albumin
instead of roan-colored horses
amidst the semen and the sage.

12.2.10


To The Mideival World To Be

Not what you think after all
pours the juices
into the crucible of desires
with the accuracy of surgical
steel contemporary soul
might and wisdom vernaculars
distressed factory to you
barbarians fastidious codes
clip currencies alter gross
national products and proliferations
from Biblical whores to whores not
fiat emergency but handwashing
remains the most cost effective
way to prevent the outcome
deserve and demanded
subconsciously effecting whole
lifestyles rather than simplicity
craved after and caved into
upright then walk
into the abyss or shuffle
sky god(s) you dirty rat(s) and rascal(s)
come hither and smite
risk annunciation precipitate
the parable for which
we keep in touch with
polytheists scholars and handclappers
do not ask what is believed
for it is the case that is what
is believed not what is accurate
sentimentally logical compunction
of one supercedence gospel
(aptly, of the fittest)
the physiognomic cosmic threat
facing most people today
is hard to arrive at
and predestined to deploy
via sub-molecular bi-codon miraculology.

9.2.10

SLAM JOB

I received a poem from "Anonymous Poet" in response a poem recently cited that to me was particularly poignant...as a recluse, exiled poet who lives in her own home town, ironically. Who has lost another job due to my insistence on good behavior in light of such bad behavior from ...oh...a variety of characters in the plot. Ah, it's not so bad...I have a couple of houses and a piece of land somewhere else...I always have somewhere to go and poetry can sustain a soul through alot of irritable times. Not bad times because being jobless doesn't constitute a 'bad time' so much as it is an irritable time.

Anyway....here is what "Anonymous Poet" had to say:


The cloaked actor siphoned my soul in sand grain increments

The mono virgin pulse refracts the gonzo honesty of
the stereo master.

On chewing gum pavements Kneecap-begging beneath cupid for the bio-password - 'the flesh permit'.

Cliched lights humming cliched stories in the cliched moon hours.

The marathon atoms hurling towards the symbol

From kite perspectives they landscape sex-futures, the gust released her.


- Anonymous poet.


Now there are some interesting word choices in there....and it does boil down to word choices in poetry regardless of a poet's intentions, political stance or other sundry influences upon our delicate minds and bodies (as poets not to mention just as people).

GONZO is one. I am a real fan of Hunter, loved the movie and grew up on a diet of Fear and Loathing but from a perspective that I won't share here...too personal.

BIO-PASSWORD....don't you mean PISS word? That would be funnier.

MARATHON ATOMS.....now this is a cheap date. Dutch.

MOON.....well....in the history of Lilac's purpled prose, I have often cited the need to decrease the number of times a poet uses certain words in their entire canon and MOON is one of them. If this is your pick to use the fabled MOON word then so be it. It shouldn't be wasted on drivel however, if you ask me...which obviously you didn't.

SYMBOL....like, ok. Symbol. Personally I think it is best to invent one.

GUST...never end a poem with something that might reveal the hot-airedness of a piece. Poems ought not end with commands to the reader to do something rather, they best end by showing the reader how to feel something or remember something and maybe even, learn something or hey, laugh at something and in that case, you win. I laughed and perhaps I even farted.

Nice try but no cigar. Here, try this:






Anthropomorphisin for What Ails You
copyright 2010 patent pending, all rights reserved, etcetera

Supplied as effervescent tablets
developed by PaidWellConsulta
services at the institute of labcoats
which have been starched
under strict conditions
of conduct and reliability
by Smith-Hollenger dry cleaning, the blade
wiped and concluded that
postnatal demise is a feature
not a fate/fatal/nor fetal
subject to hormone DU casualty
intervention or swaddling
leeching disconjugate hydrogen
links saturated polysaccharide
in compound reduction chambers
of ass-grabbing tender photocopier
memories of such and same dependent
laws, regulations and so forth
clauses and so on complete adverse
reactions stated clearly
isotopy in the literature
plus company benefits package
her hair I remember
was done up in one of those
whirly kinds of pins
for safety and hygienic
exposure to radiological
serums and vaccins, Fr.
to control the spread of
variant wild type I and II
rather than the polka dot
derivative scale versus gender
age county ethnicity
diverse fecund correlative
specs of night vision goggles
in this series and as such
bona fide returns equal less deaths
market analysis suggests
in separate models proved
to be of use in clinical trials
trends microcosms of flesh and blood
one application tiny daggers of 10-20 microns length
which leave nothing at all
to collect or contain,
saving storage and disposal costs
in the dangerous mud
museum of post holocaustic war
after the international covenants
were broke, then hidden
and citizens stopped asking.
Rerun: Ninja Recipe for Disaster


7.2.10

I found this poem particularly pleasing, astute. Just enough misery in there coupled with a touch of hope and caution, reality and soul. It is written by J. Allyn Rosser a teacher at Ohio University.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=28098

From the poem, Coming Your Way

"And now this woman whose good intentions
have soured through bad alloys
of companionship, diet, occupation—"

Well said.

Body of Chemotonins from, The Body.doc, Specimen A

Near the bottom scrape
against it searching it-in vain
for the dreamy obturator past the wedding
no mere accident the accelerator
cut fibers that descend punch out
deep and superficial inguinal rings
Saturn and Jupiter plexus
in the antero-latero aspect
distal bifurcate which terminates
oblique contra iliopubic eminence
squeeze damn you squeeze
gray water the magic potion
of deliverance or creation
barstool onto, stirrup into
where she lay on the median
Drop by drop leaks the contagion
into the jejunum this biliary
chemotonin which hasn't been
thus far used to describe
any of the features
so it is trademarked here
first usage and so on.

5.2.10

Shatter, February 5 2010

Look up there the car landed
in front of us and behind
the sign rewind to the tree
which upended
the roots savagely torn
teased bad hair or tangled
necklaces and then
this car landed

in the middle of the road
it teetered like a quarter
does before it ends the spin.

Inside were no bodies
no cries it turned
the color of a shipwreck
as it condensed.

My foot out of the door
cigarette flung dramatically
after one last puff to prepare
for that, ready to apply care
to caution, fate, prognosis
to cure, align, designate
pump, call, interupt
and drive over the shatter.

It is the case that there are no accidents

no trees suddenly uprooted or cars
burning or blocking the way.
It is the case that for each one
the vision made particular sense
that day but had it occurred
in two weeks (as it must,
somewhere else) the meaning
would be quite different.

II.


An owl was killed on this road,
I wrapped him, prayed, touched
his beautiful feathers, looked
into his eyes and his life
that I supposedly had taken away
then I laid him in the proper direction
under a mesquite and walked away.

A tree was uprooted in this place.
The wind had knocked it down
but ignored the others. I cut it
into several pieces and will wait
to burn it next year.

A car was flipped in front of us.
I stopped and looked at it,
tried to contain my pride,
the knowledge of witness
and I told the driver
to thank Allah before I left.

I met several people at the right time,
in the right place. Her Quincinera

will not proceed, her object
had been stolen or given away.
There was nothing but to grieve
with her, learn to live quietly,
to watch, to pay attention.

His glasses and her glasses
broke at the very
same hour, on the very same day
and at maghrib, the ability to see
is very important. Very important.


Two groups of birds came in
at dusk with a great noise.
Last year if you remember,
we were almost ready to leave
the pond in Elfrida, the birds
seemed to have gone away,
already performed their migration,
and then all of a sudden
a group flew directly over us,
over me and reminded us
to be patient, last year.

I informed you of this thing.

Yesterday at the pond

which had been refreshed
with winter rains, I knew to be patient,
I learned to wait, to walk slower.
I walked to the other side
of the pond so that I wouldn't
be tempted to leave before
they returned from their day's
journey, to witness their

beautiful return. I wasn't wrong
and not one but two very large groups
came in from two different directions,

aiming for the same reflection
on the water in the core
of this old desert.
Not just large groups, but really large.
The noise that they made
was enormous. They wrote
a verse on the sky
but I couldn't read it,
I could only hear
their recitation

at maghrib, after all
the watchers had abandoned
not just the banks of the pond

but the great colors
and great darkness
after the sun sheds
its light on the water,
the cranes, the maghrib, the peace,

the blessed events and reactions.

III.

The birds fight too
they don't remember
They do not write it down.




The Flock, February 28 2009


-we keep asking the dead
all the wrong questions.
-Darla Whitehead, The Long Storm


Here the word ends,
End too to end tends,
At you no end bends.
-Musavi Garmarudi

9:00 a.m.

The tumour showed up
on the way to Oklahoma
about four years ago,
I believe in Jesus
she said to me
we're on our way
and can't take it
haggling over the price
of like new glass end tables
or sins, I don't know-
it's a yard sale,
I believe in Jesus
beet red, I must have turned
to look at the knick-knacks.
Her husband wants to be
a mortician she says,
in Oklahoma I believe in Jesus,
as if belief in lymphoma
makes it right.
Her wig band clearly visible
the sallow blend of skin
she was always brown
always believed in Jesus
though, amen, amen, amen.

5:45 p.m.

at Whitewater Draw
where the Sandhill Cranes
come and go on a yearly basis,
water table drops and leaves
cracky mud and gnats, the flock
mostly on the far banks
unwilling to move in a little
closer so that we might
hear them or feel their
territorial bicker.
Oh, last October there were 15,000
that left in March.
It's only February now
and the sun is setting down,
real fast, it is hopeless.
At the very last moment,
just like Firon when the sea
finally convinced him
one large group circled over
and the pattern
of wings as the sun
lit up the feathers
from underneath,
and the engine
of wings roaring
and the breeze
and yes,
the Good News
just before the Magrhib.

1:30 p.m.

The Jehovah's Witness
comes over about
once a month to bring
us the new Watchtower.
She is a real nice lady afterall.
I keep telling myself,
don't talk back, don't talk back.

4.2.10

Half of the World

So tired of the end of time
weary dreary ammonia
nothing but fear
the night and sound.
This house goes on
big dark train
hums real hard
in the pouring rain.
Midieval world to be
much of North Africa
dry and showers
bright in Santiago.


1.2.10

On the Dole on the side

I was stunned to realize that barking meant so much more to us than to them.The natural signs in the upside down face of the sky, the part of it that exposed Itself to us, a membrane over the meniscus of the very life we saw to be reflected underneath it wasn’t gray or purple or sundried tomato coloredIts sides pinched between the horizon zippers and hems stitched together with darts trees bolts of lighten ing zen zen over zero nineteen perfect degrees between it all but those were not natural recollections how to how to see itSee it brother you are my brother if it happens you cripple about cling cling hard tight to roads worries examples everything you might have for one day one hour just a minute you just a minute you sixty separate examples on the film strip faster flying about over the screen three two one over and it startsAre you with me here or just with me. I said are you with me or not have you opened the package yet the one that sent itself to you with my address all over the left corner have you opened that package up yet or are you with me here looking in looking in and looking in and look looking looks like this you are not home yet this is the most alone part about it wondering about the reason the leaves have this fur on them what are they saying you know what are they doing all day alone remembering something or hiding the light inside of their microscopic chlorophylled filled hearts that beat without a beating this is the first time in my life you know the very first time and its like paradise walks on its own two feet from here to there you cannot come in just yet no you are not ready to see the roots of that tree she said it might happen to me but doesn’t just get it or doesn’t want to get all over it without without or rather with the same old excuses going on never been this alone before in an entire but not entire just a little bit of today life except in the womb except before it all started to happen with a one two three you are on now take it slowly take it it is yours this job ends and another begins but slow down a minute let us look at some examples first you don’t know what you are talking about buddy how to have stronger healthier bones it says and it says some other things too like dates and watches inside or outside this curtain hides the windows noises just look at their opinions judge not lest ye judge an old canard if there ever was one not sure who came up with that quasi wisdom wisdom but believe it those policies were written by policy makers not us folk who wish or try to help the old woman that he knew the one who couldn’t make any more bricks and they beat her soundly did you notice did you see the birds do it like that no you didn’t see the birds do it like that or the ants or the no don’t go there go here go here and investigate the documents for yourselves the key is still in the old drawer but no one is home to let you in just try to crawl through the old space that no one ever bothered to fix after the fire or even when the noises started upsetting the neighbors scaring the kids who ended up there with comic books with petulance and something resembling self esteem oh now that isn’t fair to say that self esteem business keeps throwing the weight of the argument back at these poor little harmless ax bearers no lets not do that again not not bet the only one to have done that yesterday in the entire room oh sure some of them may have believed they did it but honestly you can read the look in their eyes and know certainly none of them cleaned up a bit or managed one square thought about the real oh for goodness sakes madam do not look at me that way it isn’t my fault and might not be yours either except that you did take the time to buy our number one product so let the buyer beware as they say which isn’t a canard at all go check the other pocket