1498
POEMS TO YOUR BOYFRIENDS
Why not write poems to your boyfriends.
And yet, they seldom
Speak of their need for an exalted attention
Spiked with silly comments
To demonstrate and affirm a private bond,
Perhaps we're fine without,
Maybe the embarrassment saying what you feel
Brings, and with it the fear
Of indifference... maybe it's better not
To risk speaking directly.
And yet the cheapest metaphor around for love's
A baby shooting an arrow.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
1497
BILLY GRAHAM'S BIRTHDAY
Right. John Cleese's first communion.
Salma Hayek's middle-school graduation.
John Dean's deflowering. Ed Norton's
Potty training. Carl Yazstremski's
Sabbatical. Adam Sandler's bar mitzvah.
Robert Christgau's report card. Susan
Sarandon's first Bette Davis movie,
The first novel Nicole Holofcener read,
Latifah's first nickname. Billy Graham's
Birthday. Oral Roberts'. Tammy Faye's.
Kofi Annan's first rebuke. Flora Nwapa's
Trip to Port Harcourt. Kasimir Malevich's
Ferberizing. Francesca Woodman's
First polaroid. Gerard Depardieu's first
Audition, Harry S Truman's ride on a train,
Christa Wolf's first flight to the west.
Edwidge Danticat's first day on campus,
Dave Eggers' last day at Might. Ron
Padgett's ride as the Tulsa Kid. Gidon
Kremer arrives to study with Oistrakh.
Russell meets Wittgenstein. Lyn Hejinian
Barrett Watten. Mario Cuomo's first debate
Club. Dylan hears Guthrie. Ginsberg sees Blake.
Bernadette Mayer enrolls at the New School.
Kenneth Koch sends poems to Poetry. Hayao
Miyazaki picks up a pen. Guillaume
Apollinaire peeps through a keyhole.
Paul Klee spills a glass. Nancy Pelosi
Gets in and out of a fight. John Kerry
Looks in the mirror. Jim Carrey writes
Himself a million dollar check.
1496
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ADDICTS
Losing the first two hundred pounds,
Making the first ten million,
Understanding the first ten times
What's actually you and what's
The distortion anybody likes the sound of
Better than the melody that goes
With the familiar lies; climbing
To an altitude where even cynicism
Can't find a good hold, god,
Even breathing sometimes is tricky.
But where does it come from, the feeling
Of helplessness? You are returning
It isn't too much to say inexorably
To that source, in very different
Shape than when it hit you like
Alt control delete. Keep is yours
And always was. I know you. You do too.
Saturday, October 30, 2004
1493
BOMBED JOURNAL
From now on country will be referred to as village.
The cascading seas of paper mean I prefer to think
About incoming magazines over my purported dreams,
A list of the countries affected by the attacks
Goes on much longer than anticipated o bicameral
Consciousness. The political signs aren't uniform
Neighborhood by neighborhood. I labor to provide
A roll of paper towels when the pilsner spills,
And go to work for hand-me-down train videos.
Keeping consistent from dream to dream is my cold
Morning stimulant. The sack in the hall is stuffed
With anthologies, just try and carry it uptown.
The difference between nice and lovable. Leave
Your pizzazz on the stack of coats, cold and cloudy
Perp walk afternoon. Singing along is free, alas.
Friday, October 29, 2004
1492
THE CANDIDATE ON ALGEBRA AIRPLANES
Regrets? I've 'ad a few, says the singer,
Sings the sayer. The thing about singing
On an airplane is, it's like sleeping
With the guide who helps you climb the mountain.
I don't know how it's like it, actually.
What are the airplanes. They are
The newest fleet, complete with a masseuse.
Her name is X. When I vote
And I'm voting all the time
The feeling of anybody's destiny
Grins amiably, suppressing a bitter
Tiger, one nevertheless amusing
And loveable in a dangerous way.
The poet mentions walking across the street
With two small children (her own). Is it
Too easy to be included in a poem?
Try walking across the street
With two small children. Try voting
And maybe even keeping score.
If I speak my mind will I lose it?
1491
THE REASON TO KICK A BALL
Starred papers indicate a prayer is empty.
This emptiness can be acknowledged as a goal
Or reviled. The waste land exists a few miles
To the southeast. Children get caught in hail.
How we charmed a disappearing magnet soda.
I went running towards the soft sound
But clicks came from the aqua screen,
And anything you do once
Is anything you do twice
Until you learn to drop it
Like a sleeping bag in a stream.
1490
FIREMAN SISTER
Sitting out on your house
Watching the trucks arrive silently
(Earplugs) it's light as night
When the eclipse flips the switch
And the Halloween costumes
Come out of escrow
Every machine has a beak
You want to spray but it's not your role
You want to plead with the animation
But the tar burbles uneventfully
Three thousand miles away
And in this context you take the job
The way other kids take their parents' religion
You can say with absolute certainty
That you're on the take
And a hero at the same time
A heroine on the first day of herons
It's snow emitting that particle noise
1488
HAWAIIAN SAYINGS
Friends of mine
Moved to Hawaii
And wrote poems.
"Fuck you,
Aloha,
I love you,"
One of them went.
And "Dear Dad,
I'm sending you
Into space now,"
Not a direct quote.
Here in New York
We have a saying:
"Can I help you?"
And another:
"Have a great day."
We also like to say
"Have a good one"
And "Hang in there."
Half of my friends
Who moved to Hawaii
Moved back
To California
All at once.
1487
TODDLER CHRISTMAS
What's this all about? This tree
Ginger perfume and sugar smell,
The lights, the icy drawing pad
Windows, and boxes they say don't
Touch but look at them! better
Than mama's milk, shiny, tied up,
And their only mood is "soon."
Why the needle threading popcorn,
What for the constant singing.
I like it. I like it much better
With its giant dwarves in the road
By the rows and rows of trees.
I don't get why we don't do this
All the time. I can't sleep.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
1486
THE HELL YOU TALKING
Some of their moves star
A midget. Their movies. They
Prefer the term little
Parson. Smoke comes from
The toy tractor, but the boss
Is behind the adding machine.
Trout tip back to look up.
That aisle I'm not taking
Is where they keep the ice.
I'm not talking to you
For a great racket of bees,
I'm sowing sparks in fuzz
Nicks. When you braid, braid
So a drizzle won't matter
And the fog will spoon. Some
Of the moving stares at midges.
1484
NANNIES
The prog rock coming from the upper room
Is probably not being played by nannies.
Boyfriends of nannies are lifer squeals.
They deem sequins a plangent misnomer
For follow-the-lead. It styles them.
What is governed is mild vacuum clicks,
Eh, Miss Bippie? Shown the reasons,
We opt for the less sweet sauce. The wild
Vista inevitably includes three or four,
Ambivalence for hire. Convection.
1483
POETICS OF TRAUMA
The fast expense of the middle evening
Yields a quiet that we stride into, feeling
Only the pound for pound dockside restlessness
A full heart expresses when we feel alive.
In this quiet or one like it, sleep
Turns the pages of the collected comics
Until one so backlit with anguish contorts
Us, just by graphics! and we, or rather I
Jump up. The situation, unmentionable,
Is fucking with me. And it's precisely when
I most need to be proactive that I long
To clean house, file papers, bake bread
Or simply collect my energies unconscious.
No, as they say, dice. Singular: die.
Eventually, next to you I return to rest
And get back up, staring and ready.
1480
COLLOIDS
When it's cold I'd
Say a lid's cool, I'd
Disco lala all dolled
For silk suds and coiled
Dill on the lock.
Light won't pass.
Time's allied
With this nonporous
Probable obnox. May
You side with laundry.
Picking up the Piaget,
It's a sleepy Africa
I'm decked out in. I'd
Say a cold side's
Slid loco, o Schooly D.
Friday, October 22, 2004
1479
SICK LISTS
The code says I bell a tape. It reads off
The medicines available for this pick.
There is a dime by the desk's leg, face up.
Many of them come in a gelcap.
The sun will make you feel likely.
You'll ratchet up the pace by night
Only to pass on the gift. A quick look
Into the distance shows you winning.
Monday, October 11, 2004
1478
MEAN SOCCER POEM
When
The
Task
Remains
Focused
On
You
Long
After
Play
Has
Ceased
The
Light
That
Grows
Looks
Into
Its
Caftan
For
A
Midget
Stabilize
The
Cooing
Fright
Network
And
I'll
Covet
A
Civet
Someone
Plays
Piano
In
The
Department
Store
For
Money
A
Troupe
Of
Children
Performs
There
For
Free
Later
They
Will
Kick
Each
Other
On
The
Blurry
Green
For
No
Good
Reason
At
All
Sunday, October 10, 2004
1476
SOCCER POEM FOR HARVEY PEKAR HOUSESITTING FOR DANNY ELFMAN
What is all this crap? Electronic music. Great.
The problem with in-jokes is
The problem with me. I never
Saw the point in followin'
Jerry Garcia around either.
Sometimes the clicking sound.
Is a kicking sound. Monks
Sit around during recess
Because it's fall. The Simpsons.
I hate these words piling up everywhere.
1473
SOCCER POEM FOR A HALFBACK
The sound of the highway
Outside Nashville. Airplanes.
Now try it without a soundtrack.
Just the endless motion,
Tracking the benchmarks
If you will. Cardiac
Playmaker, the night time's
The right time for
Staring at the horizon.
Watching it from the satellite
I'm a tennis ball where they're
Doing the lottery, I'm a plastic sack
In a toxic canyon. Forward
And back. Forward and back.
At the heart of every play,
And at the end of play,
Empty as a heart.
1472
SOCCER POEM FOR A FULLBACK
Time is mostly empty space. Money
Considers your love of music
And the placement in your house
Of the commode. Empty space
Is mostly the way the knife goes through
The stationary cow. The butterfly
Is told to recognize its tidal wave.
The father is told to cover his nuts
During the penalty kick. When you attack,
You are like a bee; persistent
As a martingale. And yet there is
The one in goal. He is counting on you.
He is counting the kicks, the blades
Left in his razor at home. Anything
To keep sharp for when you spring out.
1470
Two thousand pieces of paper
Fit in my knapsack, but barely.
Telling a story, expecting
To be interrupted. What, though
Is an interruption. You make it
Sound like it's necessarily
Tactical. What if it, sometimes,
Indicates a need. A need
For clarification, confirmation,
Or other frightening latinates.
No thank you. I would rather
Pass the days in a fast car.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
1467
THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE STACKED
Unknown except to the puerile
Is the encouragement of the stacked.
Their existence, a matter of dressing
Neutral for the dentist, back pain,
And developing a laserlike glare,
Nevertheless gives the male sex drive
Two boundary-reinforcing reasons
To smile, albeit mainly in private.
1466
BASKETBALL ON THE BEACH
Soccer, maybe. Frisbee. Kitesurfing.
Some sand packs hard enough, say,
Cape Canaveral.
The beach itself
Is basically unuseable.
The head of an enemy Aztec --
Make a baby voice at it,
Have a dream
Of a nuclear explosion.
Everything costs money,
Including fire.
We stand around and admire
Our incomprehension.
We're out of time outs,
And the waves could win an Oscar.
I love the sun,
That's who.
1465
BITTERSWEET LITTERBUG
I can hear the critics -- they're me.
They say,
This is better known as
Robert Pinsky on the Simpsons.
This is a plastic bag
Aloft in the street,
Stolen from a thief
Who swiped it from a thug.
Do you know Bubble Duck
And Bugs Bunny? All the trash
Has germs
The tundra devil sends
To Germany movies. That's what
Bubble tundra is. Bittersweet
As lingerie
By the side of the road,
How do you like your hearts,
Mister Jinx Card.
Price lists, candy wrappers.
The messiest object
Contains multitudes. I can hear
The signs by the side of the road
Say "Bette Midler." Inside a joke
It's too dark to read.
1464
POEMS FOR CATTLEMEN
America -- we stand around
And make sure something
Doesn't get away. At the end of the day
We collect a check, or,
In most cases, some chits
To use at the px. Pecos Bill
Understood this. June Carter
Says that even if you were a miller
She would persist in her wish
To be impregnated by you;
What you do is not who you are
And where you live
Is a matter of luck.
Feel lucky. It may be the cows
Do too, even if
They're on the wrong continent
To be revered, Texas always
Looks like India to me,
And Indonesia the Caribbean.
When you go McDonalds,
The burger you order has come
From forty different countries.
In investing, they call that
Diversification; McIndex Fund.
Anyway, everybody from France
I ever met, the first thing they want
When they get here is a burger.
It's a shame about the BSE over there.
It couldn't happen here, and I know
Because they made Oprah say it couldn't.
Now if you'll excuse me,
I've got to go work out how
To collect and convert methane
Into useable fuel.
Adios, pardner.
Happy sunset to you.
Saturday, October 02, 2004
1462
A POEM ON FIRE
Alive and racing
Through -- excess
That cannot be
Released faster
Than it comes to be,
A cousin of rust,
Analogous to orgasm
And expiration date.
Fuel, heat, and
Oxygen. The flame
Is much more like
A light bulb's thread
Than I knew, too --
Soot so hot it shines.
Smoke is water,
By the way, old
Breath, and ash. It
Is not necessary;
A clean flame
Produces no visible
Exhaust. If being alive
Means a metabolism
Is chugging along,
Fire isn't alive.
The head of communications
Pops her head in my office
And asks if I've got fire;
She isn't suddenly taking
Up smoking -- a birthday party
Is about to commence.
I smoked four cigarettes
At a party, and on the fourth,
My boss lit my hair.
Caroling one Christmas eve
The same thing happened
To the girl standing next to me,
One I was sure about. Joan
Of Arc is admired for getting
The attention of all France
But she is remembered best
For her wedding ceremony;
The fuel is what we will forget
And will kill to acquire.
Gathered below the lighthouse
We watch the sky for fireworks;
John Cassavetes said
He never saw anyone die
In an exploding helicopter;
Most go from a slow process
Invisible except how it affects
Others. The best part of
Williams's Paterson is
The fire in the library;
Alexandria a hill of ash
And Sappho recovered
From sarcophagi. A small child
Asks about sarcophagi
The forest fire crosses
The eight lane highway.
One plane issues blue smoke
Another streams red
And now and again one
Plummets into the trees. Which
Kerouac book is it that starts
With Ti Jean running down the hill
After a season working as a spotter?
Excess, wrote Bataille, no
I'll let you look that one up.
That the sun keeps going
Is perfectly understandable
To physicists, therefore
We go to poetry readings
And have few sacrificial rites.
We're able to release that energy
Before it consumes us.
1461
COMEDY CANDY WITH A K
The older child stands a good foot
And a half taller than the toddler,
Who, baffled by the candy-colored
Apparatus on the white disply cube
Not at all, harbors dreams of rolling
His controlling elder down the chute
To land in a frog's palm by the machine
Vending candy in the frog supermarket.
1459
BAG KNIFE MIND EYES TAKE AFTER DAY
The bag knife-mind eyes take after day
Floats on its back on the current
Above the yellowing landscape. The flash
Is coming from a hill in the park.
Who goes there? No one, since the slaying
Back at tulip-tree time. It's morning,
And someone ought to mention; when it's hot
They call it humid, and cold equals damp.
Friday, October 01, 2004
1454
I ADMIRE YOU FOR LISTENING TO ALL MY PROBLEMS
A wide range of terms may be substituted
For the second word in that sentence:
Hate, pay, get back at, tease, will perform
Acts, etc etc. There is an economy
In which unbridled confession
Is rewarding for everyone. The link between
Poetry and religion -- discuss. You identify
My feelings, and that's no scheme
Of sleepy luncheon meats. Listening
Turns the young man into a tree. You hear
Everything I'm saying and somehow manage
Not to try to control me...
Sometimes I remember that when I say
What can I do I'm doing it. Some positive
Comments unbind the rubber band from
Inside the back of the ace.