Poetry & Prose
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Poems from the website Poetry in
Baltimore
(approx 2003?- 2010). After years of searching
for one, PIB finally gave me a community of poets, all of us
commenting on each other's work and chatting- I had always
envisioned and longed for it but never found- now here it was in
cyberspace- thanks to Julie Fisher- who set up the site.
on cover- "Evening Rain" by Alberta artist- Ian Sheldon
title: Poems from PIB- Poetry in Baltimore
font should b book antigua
through out- as close to New Yorker mag font as
possible
please put one poem on a page- if it laps over, do not start another poem where it ends- most of these poems will fit on one page
color photo of me reading at
David Franks memorial
1 Growing Old
2 In the Constellation Eeyore- in memory of David Franks
3 Great Apes
4 Report from the Front- to Charlie Stine
5 To Ida
6 Orion
7 21st Century Man- a
Portrait
8 Labor Day
9 Report from the Front- Iowa State Penitentiary
10 Prison Poem w ref. to Eliots Prufrock
11 A Portrait- Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer
12 A Portrait- Serial Killer Ted Bundy
13 Homage to Horror Movie The
Ring
14 Two Portraits Mental Patients
15 16? Two Poems in memoriam, Louise Eberhardt
can run together
17 Haiku and Vilanelle- in mem, Dorothy Eberhardt
17, 18, 19? Three Anti War Poems can run together
20, 21, 22 Golgotha- Crucifixion from the
Thief's Perspective- and from the other thief- comments from
PIB
23 Homage to Hart
Crane
24, 25 Short Humorous Poems not all by
dav
26 Homage to Harry
Potter
27 At the large hadron collider, Bern,
Switzerland
30 Tribute to fellow Baltimore poet, Mark Sanders, in the manner of Rooster Cogburn in the novel True Grit
31 Brechtian Political Poem
posters (in color) from Poetry in Baltimore Barnes and Noble reading
dave reading Constellation Eeyore
at David Franks memorial
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"Trees like to rot in
the forest"- the Tinklers, legendary Baltimore singing
group
( how past loves
inform present ones....approaching death what becomes
important...how we affect others, lovers, what they take from
us..the levels of sentience in all living things....wanting to
possess the most valuable thing as we are taken away to dust and
silence...rehearsing death, rehearsing (sp?))
At last I know how a
tree feels
Aware of all my
levels at night,
The dignity of earth
in Spring-
Moon light on the
floor, awake at three.
Awake at three I can
inhabit
The sleeping earth
and think deep thoughts:
I could have loved
you so and did!
I know my love made a
difference!
Now you are dead- the
moon light shakes
Like Cocteau said-
"You do not dedicate
Yourself to poetry,
you sacrifice to it".
What did he mean? Who
gives a shit!
I try to think now
that you're gone
(And you meant the
world to me and others!)
Because the night
brings on its dreams:
What incubus or
meaning in its black seams?
My fingers get numb
more now, but as they dry
I can plum deeper in
another sense:
The moon light of
past loves slips by
Your passing has
killed two already, but I?
I understand it- I do
not need to know.
Where the dead go.
Because it's Spring
The trees are in
touch with their extemities, they know
What sleep means just
as we know.
The levels of love
moving as I love now?
That's probably most
important- how...
How present loved
ones tomorrow morning wake?
I pray the Lord my
soul to take?
In the Constellation Eeyore in memory, fellow Baltimore poet, David Franks, read at his memorial
Who are you, who do you think we are?
Its all so far, so far, so far.
Start in the constellation Eeyore- that guide star .
Pin a tail on it- go from there south in the southern sky
That shadow had not looked that way before,
And since Im asking why:
Vast forests to the north, bor-
eal taiga, the last time I saw my father,
Spoke to him- I cant remember now.
There could be meaning, could be some how
Like the overtones to a piano string,
The clouds keep changing now that you mention it.
My pa liked cheese and crackers, that I know.
The forests of the night sky, forests of stars
Where you can go a long way before you meet another.
Its all so far, so far, so far.
Who are you, who do you think we are?
Great
Apes
O this world of sad disappearances- another species gone today, I
felt it
Slipping- I don't think I can do without the great apes!-
militias filtering through
The forests- paws sold for rifles, mountains silver moon lit-
silver back
Paws made into ash trays- "Abner" gone last year, "Flora" bereft
with her children-
"Soo", "Silver Junior", one night nest left empty forever-
Ruwenzori Mountains,
The Virunga Range, Ruwanda, Ruwenzori, H. R. Haggard-Solomon's
Mines undiscovered!
I loved how they'd charge up and then just grumble- stomachs
rumbling
he nonviolent ape families, for centuries bothered by no one and
secure!
Last night I woke and you were'nt there either-maybe down the
hall reading
In the "commons"- I'm always dreaming of college, dreaming of mom
dead
Last year....
Males play fighting- dangling on "tse nom ba ba" tree"
branches....
Dreaming of silver dorms how they bleed into mist and into lost
begonia forests,
Giant begonias and nettles peculiar to ecosystem....rain seeping
down always....
Tanzania, Virunga, Ruwenzori, I go looking for you and the
treasure but it's gone!!
Along with you, in my dreams looking for Diane Fossey now-
murmuring "Fossey"..."Tanzania"*....
* emphasize every syllable for the music of it
(d eberhardt is sponsored by sears, u
p s and snickers bars)
A report from the front To Charlie
Stine, Maryland environmentalist
The skinks, the newts, the Allegheny hellbender whose range
Has shrunk up next to nothing, Chesapeake Bay
Thad I'd put up there beside Maine/ California coast- athough
a gentler beauty-
The shore not of rock, but rather oaks and holleys...
Has also been diminished thanks to new pirates-
Same species as John Smith who saw
We lived with bounty, us - homos, not sapien "Knowing" but
but
Homos Unkowing- new pirates - "developers",
Overfishers (I guess they didn't know better?)- it's us!- just
like
The tribes who warred before us- Susquehannocks, Cecil
Calvert...
Squabbling about Kent Island - all this history
You were never taught- and so much more to uncover...
You think ELF wrong to blow up radio towers, was anyone
hurt?
Let's stand besides the species that were lost today!
Earth Liberation Front!-that's it: spring peepers, tree frogs
send
Their message in unison--"You asshole humans mark "THE
END!"
To Ida
(pronounced Ee-dah) ,
47 million year old fossil
Bless all star voyagers from the Messel Pit:
The small Creodont, early Pangolin,
Marsupials, lemur like prosimians,
Elegant early hedgehogs, jewel beetles,
The Messel bird, enigmatic combo of owl and hawk!
The Massillaropter, tiny hoopoes, hopping horses....
Bless these fossils, but bless especially
Ee-dah- Darwinius Masillae, my Ida!
Who stood at a fork in the road pointing HUMAN!
Bless Ee-dah who for 47 million years
Until pulled from the quarry on a shale slab,
Slept dreaming--- bless all travellers! I dream
Of a blue city in the distance- my home---
Purposeful, realized, I can see it
Far way in blue haze, Oz-like from this rest stop
On the thruway in the mountains--- I can't get there!
No access to on ramp--- stuck in the parking lot....
Like Ida on her bier, resin around me like amber.
O strange sad condition--- endless travel, suddenly stopping,
Never getting anywhere! Ee-dah were you heading
Towards the apes---humans or the lemurs?
O Ida, Ee-dah where are we going? in what direction?
The asphalt of parking lots a calm, dark blue,
The blue city on the plains mirage blue.
Orion- Homage to movie 10,00 BC
I left
the village, said good bye to the elders.
The white spear came with us- we entered the "dream time".
Men on horses took her- the one who had pointed
The light to me- "See that one? Others move but it doesn't...
And so she remains in my heart, whom I called "Mireille"*.
"We are one- I will "wolf you"**, she said.
Those who took her, tho'- they had worse enemies
Than us-the Ore-Ded***- the ones without seers-
With no one to study star motion.
But we follow Orion- with Rigel, Bellatrix, Mitaka****
Canis Major leading ahead like a pointer-
The "white spear" in the heavens and
I take solace in stars and star motion, I will find her!!
* in the Arcan language- "M'l'r'y"
** in the Arcan language- meaning "we will make love"
***Arcan for "military-industrial complex"
****all stars in the constellation Orion
dave e is sponsored by Star Kist Tuna, Ju Ju Fruit and
Pampers
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He stands outside the Dr.'s office- his only useful function-
A coat/towel rack- because a four hour erection
Has left him permanently stiff-
The side effect of sex enhancing drugs-
After the vasectomy,
he'd contemplated matching tubs-
A lady friend- a sunset that's sublime-
And now he stands there; even health care reform
Can't cheer him, the drug has also left him
blind!
Labor Day
To long haul 18 wheelers-teamsters, unions, assembly lines,
The friend of labor is a friend of mine!
At hearings, Bobby K tars J w communism- he snaps back: Never- No.
J's violence all American- firebombing to show-
Power to management, and management will cave
From Detroit Wheel to Dayton Tire the workers not a slave!
Jimmy abducted from Machus Red Fox, 15 Mile at Telegraph, the spots
Now- Andiamo's , Italian chain, and its not
Hard to figure out what happened: Union politics or personal vendetta- Jimmy's gotta go!
The likes of Tony Giacolone, Tony Pro .....
Just google FBI report run by once great Detroit News-
American labor 2009 seems in a snooze.
The left built labor- Management will cave!
To organise, to strike- they're not forgotten words.
Yr. 8 hr. day, 40 hr. week, yr. over time?
Yr. friend of labor
is a friend of mine.
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Report from the front lines- Iowa State Penitentiary |
Inmate A to 4 point control- where are his g d meds?!?
Station 4, Christ stumbles, falls to the road.
Inmate B, gay in Iowa, very young-"red light over my head";
Can we wash Jesus' hair after he's dead?
Inmate C looks "most female, call me 'Countess",but the guard
Says, "Disciplinary detention"- Jesus' dying is hard.
Inmate D, 2 lifes and change- "dad chokin on mom...
My little bother and I"... he can't remain calm..
Christ borne down from the cross and his beautiful hair
Is all matted, but Mary his mother is there.
Inmate A can go back to his seg cell, we assume
No longer a danger- and so Christ to the
tomb.
Prison Poem w ref to Eliots
Prufrock
Whitney's on the Oprah show again...
"Are you still doin drugs?" ...pause...sigh...immm..."Oh"...
And Maury's bleepin out- the whole bleepin show!
And now Whitney's found some religion and then...
"Bleep you", no, "bleep you- you're NOT the father".....
Whitney'd "lost touch w her soul" but she'd rather
Honor her abusive husband than leave..."no where to go,
And then moms came and rescued me"...so,
Opra sits a ga ga- "I'm connecting
With you spiritually", and Maury? He's conjecturing...
"You had an affair and that baby's not yours..
The lie detector test says so", the girl friend bleeps a
curse!
Was that a car alarm I heard outside beeping?
No it's just the Maury show in the "common room" a bleeping.
Into the common room, the inmates come and go,
Speaking of Whitney and the Maury Povich Show.I
I
His father insisted that he
open that one box-
(With head/genitals inside)-his method of mastery-of complete
control.
"I suppose we all have our secret thoughts."
A guard sits near as Jeffrey Dahmer talks-
To Stone Phillips of MSNBC- mask of normality over all-
As the serial killer reveals much- unlocking shocking locks:
How he came close to caught- the dessicated rock-
Hard corpse part in its barrel, (dismemberment played a
role-)
He needed to keep these zombies near, he needed that control.
I think of Nixon, Bush - their "acceptable dishonesty" as they
kill,
And how we all compartmentalize and put away the secrets...
O so heavy- know there will be reckoning, long to be caught!
America's serial monsters- some blatant, others not,
The things unsaid- of sex, of death- of controlling, icy mothers.
ghoul-
ish fantasies as lust builds. makes a mock
Of reason; that first hitchhiker, once drugged, the first soldier
in Iraq,
And Bush would have to kill again-the "frozen seas within"*
hes more and more cold....
The control we need, perfection, the monstrous avatar grows
old.
"I suppose", Jeff says, " we all have our secret thoughts."
Kafka- "We must take an axe to the frozen seas within us."
2 Serial Killer portrait, after the movie on Theodore Bundy
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"Bundy- an American icon"- original title for
the mo- |
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Homage to Horror Movie: The Ring
After my dreams, I'm grateful for the light of
day.
It gives solutions to problems of the night.
I hope death will be an end and not some sort of night.
A burning tree .... I guess I
understand. I pray
The demon girl will not come out of my tv
today.
(the ladder then- this also seems to do
with night).
Why? Why? would they hurt a child in this way?!?
And why a light house with its "tell" and "tell"
tolls,
As if singing, like an evil bell....
The horse pushed off a boat ? You
know?
My dreams are seldom happy, they're in a sour way-
"You'll have to die", but I wake every day!!!!
I'm happy to be alive- take just last night:
I dreamed of descent, down and down a well,
But by the day I'd clambered towards the light-
A glorious spider creature, I woke to bright
light!
Two Portraits of Patients- w quotes from Thornton Wilder, MacKenzie Phillips
T he six year old talks to some 10
different beings-
" Sycamore , the cat"- "400" tells her to "do bad things".
The clozapem gives some ability to resist , the seroquel
Softens it, but doesn' t seem to work too well!
Dear Lord- give us some place to lay our head!
The pills aren't working- not at these milograms !
Voices take over, "you're only as sick as your secrets."
But schizophrenics don't even have secrets!!!
Sleep's fitful, torture, torture until the end.
( But she does have Betty- a schizophrenic friend .)
interlude at the Group Home
"Cornelia de Lange" not a rare flower- a Dutch
pediatrician
Whose name is given to a rare affliction
At the group home, Rhonda tells me about "Bobby":
"He's in "attack mode' when he's crouching, bobbing......
But don't use the broom against him, it's against the
regulations.
"Severe to profound abnormalities, facial dysfunction"
He cannot speak, just mews or cries, what is he saying?
Dear Lord how is Bobby today, did he pass or is still living?
In your sweet world? I value the restraints we trained on.
Luckily, Bobby's small, he can be sat on!
Dear Lord, what of the love that Thornton cites
Can Bobby know, he has such bad nights!
There are back wards you do not want to know-
About today- today with its flame skies and brilliant
snow.
But: the love will have been enough...there is a land for us
Of the living and a land of the dead.. " preposterous-
ly, jewel green colored moss between the sidewalk cracks ? how to
cope? -
"A bridge between the two"? , the moss seems special,
brilliantly..it offers hope.
The "land of the living" can be hell- and then you die !.
24-7 hours attention required of the parents , they've considered
ways
Out. Wilder writes: "Soon we shall die,
Loved for a while and then forgotten..." I
And in that land of the dead- - no more loved ones!.... then
What about his "bridge between two" lands ?,
"And the bridge is love"- the"only survival, only mean -
ing" . The little moss takes on a special sheen.
And Sycamore - good kitty - special friend.
The moss, the sycamores, cool snow up until the end.
"Human misfortunes touch us in the end.
And, "There are tears for misfortune" and, except for Bobby,
lovers, friends.
Charm for a Loved One- Silver Still
Shining
The Ketef Hinnom silver amulet,
Probably a charm,
From 4 to 500 BC
Unrolled, it still shines!
A first- first discovered
Written down words from the Bible
Way back in the burial
Chamber, back under more recent stuff
Broken, looted- some sort of scroll:
But still, once unrolled, the old benediction
Across all the years
Keeps coming and coming:
May the Lord bless and keep you,
With your fluffly animal,
Beside the ticking IV.
May the Lord cause his/her face to shine upon you
Since its so shiny.
Scroll rolled up- cigarette size
Grant you peace/comfort.
Scroll finally unrolled.
Your animal a kangaroo.
A kangaroo but not Emilys
kangaroo among the beauty-
No- this one in the horror:
The horror of operations,
ICUs, visiting rooms
And give you peace.
(read in Aramaic first if possible)
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord cause her/his face to shine upon you.
May the Lord lift up his/her countenance upon you!
And give you peace!!
A few days later a second, angrier poem came to me:
2) Everyones death is perfect- the way
Death wisked you away/ It took my breath away!
You didnt have to suffer/linger- undergo chemo, long days
Knowing end is coming, heavy goodbyes spread all ways
I know it surprised you as you gulped for air to stay
Alive- you did not have the time to say:
This is a good thing (like when ice booms and cracks, fills up the bay
At Turkey Cove, bottom of winter, nothing gets in the way
Of cold advancing- buoys unbobbing, even fog horn has no say
Because- no fog- although the Point Light beams its reassuring way but
It will not beam for you, blessedly, not one more day.
If (sorry for the imagery interrupt), youd had the time to think, youd say:
"I love you, life good/ life fast- now Go away!
Go away long days of suffering out! Out!! Away!!!
No coming back, not longing to stay
And yet the frost does patterns in your honor.
Since you cant say it, I will- DEATH SUCKS!
The tide continues under the ice- even if you dont.
I could stay bitter, angry, mordant- but I wont.
Addendum:
But wait a minute- I hear the wind could help you
In your grief? Wind says goodbyes this way- you might learn
Fast moving- like French word arrache or
English- susurrus- especially wind/rain combos- wind/rain on panes?
These sounds might tell you where shes gone! You should try!
Let Hall Mark cards your tears to dry
Haiku:
Notes for a Vilanelle
1- mom dead...
i feel the heat
leaving her body.
2-like an eclipse-
that steady,
only faster...
3-her body
on a gurney-
rag heading towards cinders
4- her "soul flying
over loch raven"-
people murmuring bull sh t.
5-Vermeer's "Lacemaker"
absorbed, silently
attentive.....
Vilanelle from the Notes
Mysterious
paintings by Vermeer?...the quiet in
Them- woman weighing pearls, sunlight on her face...
My mom's death got me thinking- drew me in
To Vermeer-thoughts: how "within"
His women seem- one pregnant, His wife? , his "Lace-
maker- silently absorbed, attentive, sinking in...
When mom died I could feel heat leaving
Her hand as I held it- a surprise, the steady pace-
Like an eclipse, much faster, then her body carted off on
A tray- mere rag headed to cin-
der, but then- consolat-
ion- calm as if in Vermeer's paintings - it sinks in!
The bull shit comments from those around
"Trying to be helpful"- "her soul flies out over the lake", yes-
but the bas-
ic mystery-sadness- horror- draws me in.
The blues these women painted in, and pin points of white!
That Vermeer uses giving photographic feeling, a slight
Of hand- brush strokes blur into real light.
I WRITE TO MAKE SENSE OF IT.... IN THE END:
THE MYSTERY OF MOM'S DFEATH DRAWS ME IN!
THE SILENCE__ VERMEER PAINTINGS.......IT SINKS
IN!!
Three Anti war Pieces
1.in memoriam: originally read in honor of my dear friend and accomplice-Tom Lewis- at his memorial service from
Hi from the Unknown Soldier. I threw away my rifle and went swimming.
You may have seen me slipping away from the column. Shsssssh.
If in a desert "theatre" I leave to go look at the night sky with all its stars- Aldeberan (sp?), Rigel, Spica, Eta Carinae.
I am a statue to the Noble Deserter in the park.
I was inspired by artists like Tom Lewis! He had the "duende"- the spirit, the moxie. He had the will to continue in risky action after action of civil disobediance- from out blood pouring to forward into the Plowshares movement.
Want to join us? Then practice non-violence, resist war, and don't forget to move to the left.
Forgive them mother for they know not what they do.
Heroes to follow? Tom Lewis, war resisters, Dan and Phil Berrigan,"Plowshares" activists, M. Gandhi, ML King, AJ Muste, Dorothy Day, Quakers, Norman Morrison, Rachel Corrie, Dalai Lama....Dalai Lama? Max asks me.
Authors to read: Thoreau, Rumi, Wilde, Twain, Owen, Snyder
I have used this as a leaflet, and it is officially approved by Pooh, Piglet and Stuart Little".
2. Once to Every Man and Nation
Dave remakes the hymn:Once to every man and nationNow politically correct- still moving: daves additions, transmogrifications in parens)
Once to Every Man and Nation
poem by James Russell Lowell (protesting Americas war w Mexico- with apologies to James)-music tune nicknamed EBENEZER (one name like a Brazilian soccer star)- actually Ebenezer was arranged by Thomas John Williams, a Welsh organist. An Ebenezer is a stone of salvation after the stone monument erected by Samuel after a successful battle with the Philistines- its in the Bible.
Once to every man (woman, trangendered person, animule, life form) comes the moment to decide.
In the strife of truth with falsehood (right wing, capitalist sh t/crap) for the good or evil side.
Some great cause-Gods (goddess, Buddha, Muhammed, Wiccan, abyss, nothing, quarks, muons,) ) Gods new Messiah (Berrigan, King, (insert whomever for occasion), offering each the bloom or blight,
And (I love this part) the choice goes by forever twixt that darkness and that light.
Stanza 2: (Now picture this) By the light of burning martyrs. Jesus bleeding feet I track. (can you believe the Unitarians have softened and changed the words in this hymn)
Toiling up new Calvaries (movement/struggles, revolutions) ever
With the cross that turns not back.
New occasions teach new duties (dont forget education), time makes ancient good uncouth (theres a stretch for a rhyme James),
They must onward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.
(o yes)(still true!!!).
Stanza 3 Though the cause of evil (right wing stuff) prosper (how true), yet tis truth a lone is strong (never forget it).
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong!!! (hmm- whos on the throne right about now?)
Yet that scaffold sways the future (think of John Brown at Charlestown) and behind the dim unknown (evolution, other planets more successful than ours?)
Standeth God (goddess, Buddha, Muhammed, Wiccan, abyss, nothing, quarks, muons, ) within the shadow keeping watch above his/hers/its own (lets hope so)
can any one tell me why what follows (from prophet dave) must be compressed into a column on the left hand side of the page?
3. Prophet Dave Remakes the
"Sermon on the Mount" (Dave's in
italics)
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek for they shall not be right wing
lawyers, politicians or capitalists. They shall be called
protesters!! and let us forget not that militant non-violence can
be VERRRY militant- not always turning the other cheek- bombing
rail lines to auschwitz, for example- or Weatherperson bombings
of 70's (no one was hurt!).
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the kind-
usually women- for they shall be a great relief and comfort to
you who must stand in line at the bank or at the Dept. of Motor
Vehicles or those who have to listen to or suffer at the hands of
bombastic and violent men- (thank you Ntozake Shange).
Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall offer all manner of
civil disobedience and obstruction to the military and guns and
the right wing! They shall throw sand in the gears of the
military/industrial complex and shall enter military bases and
offer symbolic protest. They shall offer real protest by
destroying property that belongeth to the military!They shall be
conscientious objectors and deserters and shall NOT obey orders-
they shall be like Bradley Manning! i.e. wiki leaking. Eventually
war shall be no more.
Blessed are those who are
persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake for they shall usually be in courts like
the supreme court in the U.S. that are run by the rich and the
right wing....never forget that the golden rule is them that has
the gold makes the rules, and the courts are structured
accordingly. Never forget that capitalism maintains and
underclass to lock up and fills its jails with them so that you
will think something is being done about crime. The big
criminals- politicians- those on wall street? they go scot
free!
Always worth remembering- Blessed are you when people revile
you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you
falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is
great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets
who were before you.
2 new "Blesseds":
Blessed are those who are absorbed and meditating, for that is
one of the best places in the human condition to be in; they
shall be placed in supreme paintings like Vermeer's!
Blessed are the children for they are absorbed in their
play and the sounds they make are a benison to our ears and
contrast mightily with the braying of politicians and people who
are not on the left. e.g. after a big snow, children going down
hills on inner tubes- or children at the public swimming
pool!
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At the moment of his dying he glances to his side... That figure next to him, something about him... What is he, gay or something? seems to know me? The one in the middle. the pain comes in wave/flashes; Like migraines, like white sand, blinding, Almagordo! A sand storm would be nice! My vision blurring.... Blood fills my eyes, O death, please come!! Thank God that soldier slipped me some kef* in the myrrh... The one below to the side, - I recognize him from the whore house. Dear God, having never prayed before- forgive my sins, my lies, What did the guy say- something about "paradise"? My hearing's going! last chance to see the sun... And after the first nail, it didn't get any goddamned easier, That figure in the middle something about him!?! Dear Lord I can stand the pain no more!! We thieves thought we were slick- could beat the rap- But this is no way to die? my setting sun!! Blood fills my mouth- thank God for kat* to chew on! My eyes glaze- what did he say about the "paradise"? I swear I meant to change my life, at last, as if by magic It's changed, I know it- was it me to change it? Or him beside me? all growing very still. The 3 of them shiver into death upon the hill. My eyes are going now, my goddamned eyes. But now I hear it clearly- what he said! "Today thou shalt be with me in paradise" * middle eastern narcotics |
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"Caresses of Caribbean Love" is a line from Ginsberg's "Howl"
His suicide's body plying currents in the Gulf stream...
O Hart you felt abandoned, unloved- you were wrong...
Like a Mayan maiden thrown into a cenote/well....
Your body sank like the Mayan pyramids rise
Over the scrub- the sacred roads- "sacbes"*...
Draped in sea whips, by orange sea sponges, the lace
Coral, watch dial radium green of sea shrimp signals **,
Along the reef wall, then down into the abyss...
Your body drifts- pale curtains of shark
In the distance- cordons of them in the cellophane sea...
O "laminate wrenches, o silver distentions";
Great rays shake sand off and flap into the horizon
As you pass- let us approach our muses as you did- as frankly
As we talk to ourself- "nitroglycerin shoals, diazapam shoals"-
Even the date of your death (4.27.1932) has meaning.....
And the Mayan calendar glyphs accorded you have great meaning....
*pronounced: sock bays
** these you will find in Indonesia- the Banda Sea- not in the Carribbean
Short Humorous Poems:
1.) Rampant
lizards
2.) Secret Rituals of the
Bathroom Haiku (some are by fellow PIB
members)
tissue to be folded or bunched?
the flavor of
green tea over rice
the roiling bowl,
squirrels fighting
in the mulberry tree
"frog jumps in
my toilet-"plop"
top that Basho!
lock the bathroom door
I've got bizness to transact
some movements to conduct.
senator larry craig,
minneapolis airport....
footsies ensue
farting sounds sequenced
polite even numbers-
sounds like a plan
farewell faithful soldier
the waves of forgetfulness
call your name and bring you forth
how long i have waited
and i say goodbye
to my faithful children
trickle down slow and tired
i send my epistles
into nothingness
why is this delight
so quick and
memorable
once gone you are gone
forever
the finality of death and evacuation."
Short poem after Stephen
Foster in a surrealist style and politically correct
"I'm coming, I'm coming
For my head is bending low.
I hear the bland arachnids calling
Old redneck Joe.
from Baltimore -
home of the television series: "The Wire", "Homicide" "The
Corner" (popular tv shows on crime in the ghetto)
1) Abandominium Ode
Rats b crawlin
cross my feet!
Heroine high!
2) Homage to David Mamet who did the original "Homicide" movie-
set in B more in the 90's? 80's?
Serial killer to cop:
"Want to know the nature of evil?"
Cop: "No, I'd b out of a job!"
3) Homage to Mamet 2
"FBI couldn't find
Joe Louis
In a bowl of white rice!"
4) Yo, careful that pit bull
Don't bite yr. johnson-
He b goin that way!
5) found poem Assistance for
Trapped animals?
Call 311
photo by Regina Walker- see and
purchase HER WORK
Homage to Harry Potter
You identify too much with frizzing whizzbees,
Me, I like orange berti botts.
Yr. whizzbees give me nothing but the willees!
Give em to muggles, now there's a thought,
Unless death eaters shake em silly,
Or inferis surround them with green snot.
I tried a cauldron cake, found it too gizzy,
And some one left my chocolate frogs to rot.
Draco Malfoy, now there's a skizzy,
But I'd trade him sickles if he had a knut.
Just leave me alone w yr. frizzing whizbees,
My friend is Merlin, yours- a monkey butt!
You sold yr. soul for frizzing whizzbees.
Me, I tried to give it all I've got;
But ended w these frigging berti bots.
At the Large
Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland
Going through the mtn not easy- warigs there- skittering bat like-you will smell them,
But once through past the last dragon- once through the mountain...
Like the Via Rail from Jasper to Kamloops in Alberta by the River (need name of river*).
The professor with long hair gives you a tour of one of his parks- like a universe and
He demonstrates, tearing the edges of a vast curtain that proceeds to dissolve in a gyre
"Watch the smell", he cautions, but it's nice - kind of buttery- "That's earth".
You are more grateful to music for having gotten you here- say how Chopin builds filigree
Upon filigree, or maybe Shreker's "Chamber Symphony" where the the keys keep dissolving.
You are certain the universe turns to some kind of music- you just can't hear it- but you are aware that it's there.
In some Grand Unified Theory, in the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, they are searching.
*Aren't you excited to see which river I will choose? but guess what?
A Visit to the Monocacy Battlefield, Frederick, Maryland- to Lieut. Geo Davis and the 10th Regiment, Vt.
July 29, 2011
The engineers for the B & O Railroad had cleverly, non-violently solved the problem of crossing a canal over a river- where the lazy, Monocacy River passes into the Potomac near Point of Rocks- they constructed a bridge across the river that held water mules could haul the canal boats across! This bridge is still there- a fine jogging, bike path up from DC to Harper's Ferry- the C & O canal path.
Meanwhile upstream on the Monocacy in July of 1864, Confederates clashed with Federals at the battle of Monocacy- south of Frederick- 2000 dead resulting! What was the mission? To take DC for the one, to defend the north from southern invasion for the other.
Was that enough to die for?*
The Union soldiers had no way to know that before the Best Farm- smack in the middle of the battle, was once the L'Hermitage plantation where slaves were brutally treated- tortured even.And did the Federals feel they were fighting to free the slaves? Archaeology of the slave quarters is ongoing.
A young boy watched the battle unfold from behind a boarded up window at the Worthington farm-and today- in July the same river snakes through the field of battle to the Potomac- an unimpressive river-shallow- maybe a few good swimming holes- brown in color. The same shimmering heat obtains- the B & O trains plow regularly through as always on the way to Harpers Ferry. No river to die next to!! or was it? Is death in battle ever valid? Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are today convinced that their sacrifice is warranted. At the moment of your death what would you be thinking?
Inconsolable sadness comes to me at the thought of a soldier's last day in this bucolic setting-were the grander battles at nearby Antietam and Gettysburg far more gallant fields on which to perish?- the florid lilt of 19th century expression does not help- as in "I have received my death wound- water. please give me water." I hate all wars, but still....
To the boys Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey * in these swales-
The bullets kicked up leaves, nicked branches- like hail-
stones in winter- "O Mattie- the boys and me took solace in the river, taking turns
(Altho the sound of musket/cannon burns..
A dull report- not sharp- too much like popping)...
We washed our stinking socks, I swear
There's be some lovely farming here!
O Mattie although my love for country's grand-
I love you more- you and could love this land!
If I should die here and you get this."
(But for cicadas, today all is still.)
"Please thank my tentmates- Owen, Will."
* at the state monuments you are actually in Vt and N J for they own the land-they pay considerably to maintain it.
PS "Well it's 2,3,4 what are we fighting for?"- Country Joe and the Fish (which mnakes this a very, very unpatriotic poem
dedicated to fellow pib poet mark
sanders (to b read with a sort of jolly menace in the manner of
rooster cogburn- a character in the book and
movie)
we tuk the sanders boy
...from over at the "spk yore peece" saloon*?
we bushed him down by the sedge
over on the julie fisher spread...
we wuz fixin to hang im cuz he was so purty-
he wasn't like the rest of us ar kansians
but we was just a funnin w him and we told him
to speek purty for us, ? says he's a poetry boy?
snow started fallin on cedars at abt that time,
down by the missouri breaks- we wuz a fordin the river
me and the gurl- lil emily d we call her-
i'm playin w sanders- showed him the rope awrite
then my sharps rifle? that got his attention-
but he red reel good and we let im go this time
* Speak Your Piece was a poetry reading serieds sponsored by Mark Sanders
dave and Medea Benjamin of Code Pink before Bradley Manning demo
Brechtian Political Pome- to Diane DiPrima
if Che stood before you giving a speech?
u'd probably be rubbing your eyes?
che recited leon felipe's poem
to sugar cane workers
and one wonders what they thought?
the poem being surreal,
from the coca leaf
to street cocaine...what percentage?
captialism...hello marketing...
top fortunes listed,
some of them "shipping",
as to off shore islands, swiss banks...
and yet the desparate
must make a living- whichever, wataway...
paris commune ('71) banned prostitution...
why should female body b considered a commodity?
or the woman b forced to
consider herself so?
do you see what
we're up against?
in that the profit
from what is desired
becomes exploitable?
and workers will not get paid?!?!?
murder becomes a
"resolution of conflict"
Medea and Code Pink members at Bradley Manning demo- Quantico, Virginia
under the "marketing dept.,
o we all need a buzz
so why not legalize buzzes? distribute wealth
to the mules!
mexican drug wars
pit workers v workers...
and in u s- fannie may, freddy mac, standard poor,
was not the bankers either
paid a price
but workers do!
until a government puts
people before profits
do you want to be played like
a monkey in a cage?
the mexican police?
are you glad you're under
rule of "law" ion u. s.?
check disparity between
crack and
powder cocaine...
follow the money...
see where it gets you...
Mark Sanders poster below
Eric ? poster (dave give credit)
we tuk the sanders boy
...from over at the "spk yore peece" saloon*?
we bushed him down by the sedge
over on the julie fisher spread...
we wuz fixin to hang im cuz he was so purty-
he wasn't like the rest of us ar kansians
but we was just a funnin w him and we told him
to speek purty for us, ? says he's a poetry boy?
snow started fallin on cedars at abt that time,
down by the missouri breaks- we wuz a fordin the river
me and the gurl- lil emily d we call her-
i'm playin w sanders- showed him the rope awrite
then my sharps rifle? that got his attention-
but he red reel good and we let im go this time
* Speak Your Piece was a poetry reading serieds sponsored by Mark Sanders
dave and Medea Benjamin of Code Pink before Bradley Manning demo
Brechtian Political Pome- to Diane DiPrima
if Che stood before you giving a speech?
u'd probably be rubbing your eyes?
che recited leon felipe's poem
to sugar cane workers
and one wonders what they thought?
the poem being surreal,
from the coca leaf
to street cocaine...what percentage?
captialism...hello marketing...
top fortunes listed,
some of them "shipping",
as to off shore islands, swiss banks...
and yet the desparate
must make a living- whichever, wataway...
paris commune ('71) banned prostitution...
why should female body b considered a commodity?
or the woman b forced to
consider herself so?
do you see what
we're up against?
in that the profit
from what is desired
becomes exploitable?
and workers will not get paid?!?!?
murder becomes a
"resolution of conflict"
Medea and Code Pink members at Bradley Manning demo- Quantico, Virginia
under the "marketing dept.,
o we all need a buzz
so why not legalize buzzes? distribute wealth
to the mules!
mexican drug wars
pit workers v workers...
and in u s- fannie may, freddy mac, standard poor,
was not the bankers either
paid a price
but workers do!
until a government puts
people before profits
do you want to be played like
a monkey in a cage?
the mexican police?
are you glad you're under
rule of "law" ion u. s.?
check disparity between
crack and
powder cocaine...
follow the money...
see where it gets you...
|
Va or Base police, Quantico, Va. DO NOT
YIELD!!! |
|
Mark Sanders poster below
Eric ? poster (dave give credit)
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