Beulah,
peel me
a grape...
...............
I
hear Van Bryck-Hedd's
buyin' property
on the Hill
...............
...devil's?mother's?whose
back?break
whose?step
on a
crackbreakdevil's?
mother's?makes
a difference
...............
The
Wise Ole Radical says
AnymoreI'm
about as much
interested in Individualism
as I am in gettin'
hit by a truck!
...............
Up
along the river
there's MARIE'S
PRODUCE
TRAILERS
...............
Van
Bryck-Hedd is a handsome cuss
proud of his profile
It's always from
his left side
that he looks you
in the eye
...............
That
balcony on the Hill
casts a shadow
like the moon's
...............
...devil's?mother's?remember
whose!or
make
up your mind!make
your stepyour
wayyour
awkward dance
...............
PROVIDE!PROVIDE!
...............
Grandpa
always said
Get lots
while you're young!
...............
Out-of-state
plate
on 28th St.
2 p.m.fenders
gleam, too hot
to touch
...............
The
river down the valley
rose up so
it took the used
cars off the lots
...............
Beulah,
peel me...
...............
Back
in the hometown again
gliding along
Maple
or is it West Main?
Stopping before the drugstore's window
or is it the hotel's?
...............
Van
Bryck-Hedd's got that knack
of always spittin'
with the wind
...............
This
little piggy
freed the market
so this
little worker
lost his home
...............
PROVIDE!PROVIDE!
CONTRIVE!CONTRIVE!
...............
Get
lots while
you're young
...............
On
display in that dream-window
from the attic
of someone
long gone
a photo of the bearded ones
the town fathers
...............
By
suppertimetemper
evensthe
metal bears
marks
of loitering hands
and rumps
...............
This
little piggy
cornered roastbeef
so this
little family
had none
...............
...step
on a crackor
don'tbut
step
alongmake
your awkward dance
in this new city
...............
On
that balconyabove
its shadow
a woman in a creamy
morning gown
lays her arms upon
a glass table
Her right hand rests upon an orange
perfectly ripeawash
in light
...............
Van
Bryck-Hedd kindly
asks you to bring
only your profile
too
He speaks so patiently
his words are
few
...............
The
Wise Ole Radical says
I've begun to
wonder
what Emerson's
wife
really thought about
that Self-Reliance
shit
...............
At
night the ill-lit street
dissolvesThe
Buick's owner
squints through
window-slats
Past dawn that fool will find seats
slashedengine
scattered on the curb
...............
PROVIDE!PROVIDE!
FREE RIDE!FREE
RIDE!
...............
And
this little piggy lied
WEWEWEALL
THE WAY!
in his speechesin
his columnsin
his home
in his mirrorsin
his cups
and even in his
pomes
...............
The
flood took all the trailers off the flats
and broke the
gas lines
Half of Main St.
burned
...............
She
doesn't raise her handbut
traces
with her fingertipsover
the orange's skin
gentle circlesfor
hours caresses
that plumpness as she gazes
at shreds of clouds
above the City
...............
...in
the new cityalong
the dark streetun-
coiled in front
of
youmake your awkward
danceuntil
you make one firm
friend
...............
The
Wise Ole Radical says
Hellpoetry's
always
a matter
of spittin' into
the prevailin'
wind!
...............
PROVIDE!PROVIDE!
FAR WIDE!FAR
WIDE!
...............
In
the dream-photohalf
of them or so
identifiedthe
great grandfather
of someonegreat
uncles
of the very old
or recent dead
...............
Now
she wears a golden gown
the sun a white-hot
rivet overhead
She lifts the fruitso
ripe she uses
only her index finger's nail to slice
and flick patches
of its skin away
...............
When
Dad heard I was going to live
in Lester's mobile
home he said
PerfectYou'll
live in a box
sleep on onecook
on oneand
watch Lester watch
oneall day long
...............
Van
Bryck-Hedd's home sits high
in the City on
the Hill
His house was built
with words
Van Bryck-Hedd's words
are his love for
you
...............
There
is a world where you can
find your bearings
only by shredding
maps
then placing the pieces
over your eyes
...............
PROVIDE!PROVIDE!
REVISE!REVISE!
...............
Suddenly
a bearded father leans
toward his neighborand
moves
his mouth soundlessly
They all begin to stir and shiftsome
angry
some scuffing
shoes on the ground
...............
Now
she sits in her light-blue evening gown
She holds the
raw weeping pulp
up against
the fire-red sky's
tatters of flames
...............
Grandpa
rode the union rails
for the Delaware
and Hudson
Told us being a
brakeman meant
someday he'd break
his goddamn neck
...............
Blooms
of forsythia crowd and crown
our discontent
A hair that teases
the back of the throat
our memory of
an ancient violence
...............
Van
Bryck-Hedd knows what's best
for youProfile
to profile
he speaks
slowlypatiently
...............
The
eternal shuttlecock
arches across
dusk-pink sky
When it's hit it
says
pittpittFlying
it saysnothing
...............
Their
bearded faces brighten
They start to
change positions
some sly game to
make
the names penned below the photo
no longer match
their human forms
...............
And
one day Grandpa got swayed
right off the
top
of a coal car
Engineer and fireman both
saw him go
...............
Spring
is only a contract's term
a nifty hard negotiation
done
by someone big
...............
The
grass behind the trailer's so high
when Lester walks
the dog
back to the pond
all I see's the tops
of stalks waving
their way
...............
The
Wise Ole Radical says
I'm an old
fart now
I just wanna be
one of you guys!
...............
The
Ghost of Banquet
walks along the
suburb's streets
whispers across
the City's alley-puddles
...............
Train
screeched in
at the depot
two miles down
the line
Sent a handcar back to find
Grandpa's corpse
...............
But
hellwe dance
the season anyway
jig through the
new
field-slapclap
hands and thighs
...............
Then
just as suddenly the fathers
freezeeach
one out
of positionYet
there is a movementtheir
beards
growing like masses
of vines
...............
And
yesyou'll love
Van-Bryck Hedd
too
He'll become
the desire
of his victims
...............
The
zenith of each
lobbed
shuttlecock marks
the edge
of a circular
universe
...............
That
night I was already sleeping
when Lester and
the dog got back
Three in the morning
I'm stung and itched awake
by about a thousand
ticks
...............
Beards
growing like vines
clutchingsnaggingobliterating
facesbodiessky
the whole space
blotting black
...............
Only
by shredding maps
...............
Through
flames and soot-blacked backing
of his fireplace
Van Bryck-Hedd sees
bones stretched
out
in way-stations
in scorched arroyos
...............
This
Ghost wears fear and crumb-confetti
It's moved by
cords
forged from luxurystrings
that nearly lift the Ghost from contact
with earthto
drift among the rags of clouds
...............
Gowned
in scarlet she places
the orange amid
its yellowing
scatters of skin
scabrousdryand
whole
out there in the
balcony's deepening dark
...............
The
whole space blotting blackbut
then
so slowly coming
clear once more
And cleared of
any bodyface
only the sky remaining
only the old land
...............
Place
the
pieces
over your eyes
...............
The
tub's the thing in the trailer
that seems the
normal size
After the ticks
I lay there in water
hot as I could stand
and watched the
steam rise
...............
The
big rigs fuel up early
For miles in the
last of the dark
you can hear
the engines revand
then the slow
grind up the hill
...............
Halfway
there they spotted
Grandpa hoofing
it
fast along the
tracks
Said he'd landed cat-on-his-feet
in a bed of ferns
...............
But
hellwe dance it!
When the best
is spoiled or snaked away
we come to love
what's left
...............
The
Ghost will do anything
to staywill
enter
bone marrowand
other
soulsespecially
those whose bones
have already turned
to light
...............
Only
the skyonly the
old land
land of the ancient
bear and ancient fox
And on that primeval
ground something shining
but already always oldalready
always cracked
only a black lensed
box
...............
Each
night Van Bryck-Hedd
wraps himself
around a warmth
And therebeyond
the fire
beyond the bonesa
companion
stands his watch
...............
I
watched the steam
rise off my flesh
and thought
I'm Cain's offering
...............
Stare
into memory's
broken eye
...............
Grandpa
told us Changed my lifeyes
sir
From that day
on
I cast my vote
for Eugene V. friggin' Debs
every time he
ran!
...............
The
cold cold comfort that we keep
is pure at least
And from the celebration
from the feast
we wrap around
it in our sleep
...............
The
companion stands his watch
his foot upon
a yet unopened
strongbox
...............
...pitt...pitt
...............
I'm
Cain's offering
Yet there was
peace
a small peace
...............
Stare
into history's
broken
eye
...............
A
foot upon the strongbox
he gazes tranquilly
out into blackness
...............
A small
peace up there
right beneath
the ceiling
...............
Into
the blackness of the desert
they'll continue
to cross
tomorrowat
dawn
...............
And
I rose up in the steam
to meet the small
peace
in that high and
lonely light
...............
The
big rigs groan
for the City on
the Hill
then slide
on pastdown
through democracy's
air
|