VERBATIM ÒWE EAT OUR WORDSÓ PARTY
PANTOUMS
THE SPIDERS WEB OF POLYGAMY
In a town bred for incest,
A cross-wire connection.
A spider waits there
In the webs shining center
A cross-wire connection
Sputters, sparks, stumbles--
IN the webs shining center
This fly slips on threads, on life.
Sputters, sparks, stumbles --
A spider arrives
This fly slips on threads, on life
More spiders, more spiders, tumbling into each other
A spider arrives...
a quick dash of its tongue, flesh so sweet --
More spiders, more spiders, tumbling into each other,
A heart so saturated with the venial pulse of desire.
A quick dash of its tongue, flesh so sweet
Bound in gossamer by decisions own right
A heart so saturated with the venial pulse of desire
it collapses to wait
Bound in gossamer by decisions own right
Crushed like a Volkswagen Bug beneath a tractor.
A heart so saturated with the venial pulse of desire
Yet bound by the chains of arachnid industry
Crushed like a Volkswagen Bug beneath a tractor
She felt cold and clammy
Yet bound by the chains of arachnid industry,
her life depended on their healing-heat secretions
She felt cold and clammy
She hoped there were enought spiders to keep her.
Her life depended on their healing-heat secretions
Which is why
She hoped there were enough spiders to keep her
in a town bred for incest
Which is why
A spider waits there.
Pantoum
There -- I can smell it:
The sharpness, the clarity of
The spice & citrus -- whereas this color-blindness
Renders everything ginger-tinted.
The sharpness, the clarity of
Thought impels motion,
Renders everything ginger-tinted,
Penetrates vision.
Thought impels motion
As if it were aerial,
Penetrates vision
Flying through spheres.
As if it were aerial,
Brown sugar-soaked prophesy
Flying through spheres,
Coaxing cinnamon-stained thought,
Brown sugar-soaked prophesy
Foreseeing stones rolling into vast reefs,
Coaxing cinnamon-stained thought
Of a girl so fair from California.
Foreseeing stones rolling into vast reefs,
I hurled. Thoughts
Of a girl so fair from California
And AM radio songs stuck on golden oldies.
I hurled thoughts
From the car, listening to their thud and bounce
And AM radio songs stuck on golden oldies
In which the thoughts floated so pure over the airwaves.
From the car, listening to their thud and bounce,
The pile drivers took on new rhythms, like ten-gallon pickle drumming
In which thoughts floated so pure over the airwaves,
Which all the bulldozers in that Tinseltown state could not rectify.
The pile drivers took on new rhythms, like ten-gallon pickle drumming.
There -- I can smell it
Which all the bulldozers in that Tinseltown state could not rectify:
The spice and the citrus -- whereas this color blindness.
ÒYah-YahÓ
Holes -- vision -- a melting response
To crave new form, new substances.
Am I stuck to repeat the world s sour fruit
By bearing a child so much like me?
To crave a new form, new substances
Break the back of institutionalized dicta.
By bearing a child so much like me,
We ll be ecstatic fledgling but ll
Break the back of institutionalized dicta,
Create a monster with tooth-nail teeth.
We ll be ecstatic fledgling but ll
Begin to ask frowning questions.
Create a monster with tooth-nail teeth;
Holes -- vision -- a melting response
Begins to ask frowning questions:
Am I stuck to repeat the world s sour fruit?
Dogcatcher
Got trapped in a corner
By the man whose duty
Is to put my ass behind bars.
The dogcatcher s no different from God.
By the man whose duty was
To pound the stars into our head, hung a poster saying:
ÒTHE DOGCATCHER S NO DIFFERENT FROM GODÓ
To remind us that we are all small specks in the great Milky Way
To pound the stars into our heads, he hung a poster saying:
ÒTHE WORLD IS MADE OF WORDS!Ó
To remind us that we are all small specks in the great Milky Way
And if we know the words of which the world is made, we can make of it whatever we wish.
The world is made of words
Whose earthy, forest smell insinuates:
ÒAnd if we know the words of which the world is made, we can make of it whatever we wish --
Be it psychedelics or pragmatism, the ObjectÓ,
Whose earthy, forest smell insinuates:
ÒGet trapped in a corner!Ó
Be it psychedelics or pragmatism, the object
is to put my ass behind bars.
The whiteness of noon,
through greenness of
forests of growing freeness,
turns water to wine.
Through greenness of
my ears canals, I crawl for the truth while Matt
turns water to wine,
underwater rhymes? or unfixed lines?
My ears canals, I crawl for the truthe while Matt
sings songs for this crackling fire --
underwater rhymes? Or unfixed lines?
We went wild strawberry picking in July.
Sing songs for this crackling fire,
my darling Ginger, and give me fruit.
We went wild strawberry picking in July;
the juice dripped from our lips onto the fine white sand.
ÒMy darling Ginger, give me fruit!Ó
I kept the taste quietly to myself while
the juice dripped from our lips onto the fine white sand
and I whispered my name as its pattern.
I kept the taste quietly to myself.
The whiteness of noon
whispered my name as its pattern
in forests of growing freeness.
300 feet below the surface of the sea
Alone in my depth
I at last spread out
and try to fathom
the intention of fishes.
I at last spread out
the tendrils who fathom
the intention of fishes --
Be there, always, always, never cease.
The tendrils who fathom
the caverns inside
be there, always, always, never cease...
Like diving through rock...like breathing water.
The caverns inside
the cliffs of the mountain
like diving through rock, like breathing water,
will cease to be inspiring.
The cliffs of the mountain
uphold trees of coral. The ocean
will cease to be inspiring.
I will myself
uphold trees of coral. The ocean
family farming beds of life.
I will myself
through illusions of light.
Family farming beds of life,
I seek to salvage my twisted knife,
through illusions of light
and the crystal constructions of youth.
I seek to salvage my twisted knife
alone in my depth,
and the crystal constructions of youth
I try to fathom.
Shattered Mushroom Funk
A tremor, percussive concussion
Which shattered the vase or the window
In this funk of darkness and moisture,
A mushroom will sprout from the abcess.
Which shattered the vase or the window?
The heat rising from these hands?
A mushroom will sprout from the abcess
But sink back into these ruÁddy cheeks, shame-facedly.
The heat rising from these hands!
Fire in the belly, purple with intentions,
That sink back into those ruddy cheeks, shame-facedly
Burning with schemes in the pregnant darkness.
Fire in the belly, purple with intentions,
Blue with foreknowledge, red with prophesy,
Burning with schemes in the pregnant darkness,
Splattering wise nothings into my ears.
Blue with foreknowledge, red with prophesy,
Sour lips attached their possessive yearnings,
Splattering wise nothings into my ears,
And nothing but vile etymologies made any sense.
Sour lips attached their possesive yearnings
To bite and bring forth purple blooms.
And nothing but vile etymologies made any sense
With the blood rushing to the abcess.
To bite and bring forth purple blooms,
A tremor, percussive concussion,
With the blood rushing to the abcess
In this funk of darkness and moisture,
A mushroom will sprout.
The bag which hung sullenly by my sideË
Became suddenly elephantine,
Drangging me into the swamp
Where will o wisps whispered my name
Became suddenly elephantine,
Enlarging proboscis
Where will o wisps whispered my name
Into vast and wrinkled ear-caverns
Enlarging proboscis
Through permaculture and organic loam.
In vast and wrinkled ear-caverns
I vowed never to build again.
Permaculture and organic loam
Glanced against the satchel.
I vowed never to build again,
Only to take fruit and earth in summer.
Glanced against the satchel,
The equipment reminded me of days down deep when I needed
Only to take fruit and earth in summer
Beside and in the blue that was limitless
The equipment reminded me of days down deep when I needed
A chance to relax, one dream, one life
Beside and in the blue that was limitless.
I curled my lips and breathed a sigh....
A chance to relax, one dream, one life,
The bag which hung sullenly by my side....
I curled my lips and breathed a sigh,
Dragging me into the swamp.