There’s a toddler out thereswinging mitts on strings —store-bought woolen pendulathat shatter water — I can’tfathom the mystery northe malice of it — hedisturbs the peace withextended grasp andwithout frowning adultsstepping forward three geese rear upand rasp —not biting buthissing venom(funny howin springtimethey were yellow — a mild cycle suffered scantly if at all)but againa …
Board like an ape,chewing on my chinon the slow train; face sky like a net,hauling clouds to groundfor my spear; and the night is an oil slick,a real pit of traffic, so I crab-walk — to where the windows of my houseare the windows of my house, and the key fits. That’s business.
Spreading cross-sections of engineers:The way we move.Thumbing the cratered cheeks of farmers:The way we feed.Stroking the silken shorts of fighters:The way we lust. The hot-blooded toilOf Thomas Hart BentonFloods this chamber. Twelve panels’ worth of big-letterVISION: Black sows, white cotton,Steel ships, electric cities,Soda fountains of jazz and money, Furnaces jewelled with sweatAnd carbon. Drink it …
make my ears bleed baby scream yerself raw and sickpour your woes into my holesbring it fast and thick make my ears bleed babyplay a savage tuneshred guitars and bang my drumfrom dusk til dawn til noon leave me quiet babytheres a coma that im in a sweptout cell inside my skullbut boy the walls …
Flotsam of a morning; Jetsam for a moment;Like foam, my breathing’s bursting,Drawn in deepest blue. Fling my tendrils; take me;My limp and drifting endings;Arms and legs sidewinding,Deep through deepest blue. Mesh for messy movement; Marsh of grid and branches; Force from far-off places;Deep-stacked, rolling through. Ground me on the shoreline;Wreck where wits may find me; …
My spine,My limbs,The divot aboveEach buttock:These grumble,But grind againstThe pitted,Man-made shore. It is hot in ChicagoWhere foreheads gleamLike quartersAnd rows of brickAnd limestoneCrack open Unctuous sun.
They carry themselves.How, I don’t pretend to know. Their shins, skinned.Their nails, splintered.Their lips, cracked. (Did medical staffReport these changes?)On. Holding no voiceBeyond reedy breathing:“We are human.We are human.We are.” (Another time,We would be neighbours.)On. That wretch —If he could stop,He’d find lung forTreatise, sermon, song,Civics or bawdy humour. (Fairy tales effectSuch transformations.)On. Those bones …
What are you doing hitting marks,reciting lines, after cremation?Grandfather —you surprise me,appearing like this. Preceding scenes planted youdeep beneath roses,arrested while pruning —soiled handprint on vest.The episode passedwithout laugh trackor revival — Justreaction,silence,credits, death.Yet, here you are. Righted — corrected in fiction:cast as a salaryman, set and shot in Japan. How irresponsible,I think, and:What an …
Amber! Amber!It is all amber. The wood of the barVarnished with sunlight:Amber! The porter rolling in my Glass like syrup:Amber! The eyes all around,Blue, green and brown:Amber! Call them amber!They’re warm enough,For we are wracked — Caught in hiccupped laughter,Creased. Seeping to our edges, Happiness has drenched us. May it be forever thus.
Angel raises my gaze.Angel tugs at my locks. Angel nudges my chinSkywards to be struck. Angel caresses my cornea, Lit with pale fire and IAm made splendid, Saying, “Hold the book so I can see.“ Saying, “Billow wisdom in my hollows.” Saying, “Let me sneak the ending, apparition.”“Holy smokes!”
