the Patriot
tumbled down from Pike’s Peak
like a clown in a clown-car
steering before pissed-off electric spiders
that ran around with baby-doll heads on them
bobbing up-and-down going to “kill somebody”
god-damn this country
who listened to mildew scream in the pipes
who saw George W. Bush in the shower-steam/
curtain/god bless
& frothed & spat & hissed in the
in-and-out of the courtyard
disinfected body
the bathroom parading before
everybody / the bright electric
rubber buggy bumpers
who said “pristine” & the evidence / spilling
a sticky foulness before
Abu Ghraib Guantanamo Baghdad / once more
grown intoxicated by the altitude / pushing us
too low, too low
Coke Bottle Lens
Poor eyes do you watch
who has the authority to make you watch (anything) he says
watch your eyes
But can it be really
damn
No, but you don’t suppose it is
It is the way that you have when you recall something and it’s not like it really was
The brain is like some hamburger but it’s liturgical
So what was I talking about oh yeah my third grade teacher
And once in the third grade, ….
Or later
I had a camera
In the third grade
And when nobody was looking at me I was looking looking
Looking at the back of her
(Neck, basically)
And (her knee)
And her hair was quite long in those days
so I thought that I might have to pull it
I had a good grip
Then
I saw her her face red
her red in the face and the face the face of Mars
The face the face it was the face of a planet but which one I forgot
(Mars)
Oh yeah
But I forgot
______ had gone away that summer and left us
My tree hadn’t grown like the rest
It was weak
I needed time
Nonetheless
I had pointed my camera at her
She couldn’t see me
The sun was so bright
It fell on her shoulder
(That’s my shoulder she said)
(Oh don’t touch me there
she said)
There is much trouble in this classroom
I think the wise voice coexisted
And then
And then my eyes wouldn’t hold the image…