absolute liars
I am, I am, I am superman
–REM
Lord Lazarus looks
in a little white door
Sylvia Plath comes through
carrying her gown
she says Lazarus,
Hello
they soon lie down
after a while
they rise
meanwhile, here on earth
i’ve begun to bear a false witness
to my life
i feel there is some justice,
there in the fuselage
in the wheelspace
in the wreckage
in the wind
or the tree
or wherever
but the city is shaking
and i’m unable to stop that
how to make this world safe
for my children, who might want it?
how to make my lover hear me?
poem
(rest)
an unguent sweetness, please
oh lord
aroma, perfumes, light
i need me some light to guide me
to a land of clouds where i can lay my dear head on
oh lord
you hit me (you hit me)
at the ah
the ah
demonstration
there were men, women, and children
each with banners proclaiming
some right or another right
there was a grocery store next to a car wash
there was a traffic light
i was there
i was just there being myself
wondering if i had a right
not to exist
but to change
it would be the very thing i liked about you
the thing i most wanted
and always talked about
poem
(talent)
i need a good rainstorm
and some healing powers
some lake-effect snow
to blow in off the lake
lake effect snow….
if this were the sort of town to have snow
i could be buried in a snow drift
i could be buried in a bank vault
with some snow
oh, Chicago
there is snow now
town of euphemisms
to show that world a difference
to show that dog: wag
that he’s not got ticks anymore
but dandruff
that he’s got
cocaine
and a head of wind
once more Ye myrtles brown,
with ivy never sere,
I come to pluck your berries
harsh and crude
but what is snow?
as interference, the poem’s life’s inside snow
but not mine
i need the weather man too much
i need white
as a blanket condition
as interference
in the television set
the factories are covered
with white crowns
i go for a walk
in the snow
bringing a snowman
my nuclear arsenal
well coin is a treat
cash is a treat
there is some justice in that
but where is the Angel Jesse
where is he
he bows, bows over (it is gratifying)
the gavel, the gavel he says
quiet
(and it is quiet)
and the man gets up
with his house and his possessions
(he takes all that he is good for)
and the man is in good health
so he starts following the Angel
and the Angel Jesse says, Wait here
if you are a disgraceful merchant
you may not pass
and then he begins to stamp the ground
and the ground opens
*
meanwhile, the drug-dealer starts shooting up
the playground
(the schoolchildren)
and they start following
nobody
earlier in the day
they were learning about Beethoven
Ode to Joy
and they were singing
or not singing, but just about to
(they were talking, before they could sing)
and it was
fa la la
but it’s not good
not good at all
so where is that man Ulysses
where is Jacob