Poems

In The Vernacular

“You got a gripe against the poor?”
He asked me with a growl.

I answered, “All my friends were poor

Except one college teacher.

I lived with him a year or two.”
He snarled, “Are you a fagot?”
“That isn't your affair. Are you

A homophobic Christian?”
He said, “I think I'll fuck you up!”

I said, “I'll call a cop.

I'd like to see an unemployed,

Homophobic Christian

In the clink with lots of other men.”

8-14-13

 

“Camelot”

In Long Beach with my mother

When I was very small

I found the album “Camelot”

In a record bin.

Enchantment overtook me -

The many colors, gold,

A cover that would open,

And pictures of the cast.

And on the back in darkened gold,

Blood red, the royal hall

Where Guinevere and Arthur stood

Before their rigid thrones.

Festooned with draperies, the court

In regal colors, costumes -

Excessively the colors

And medieval effigies.

I wanted it. I wanted more

Than anything I owned.

I bought it with my money,

And carefully I held it,

Still unopened, riding home

In my mother's car.

I hoped – dear god I hoped -

I wouldn't die before I got there.

8-14-13

 

Horowitz

I saw Horowitz when he was old -

Scriabin and Scarlatti and his Sousa -

Dusty gold -

Age spots on his visage -

A paucity of hair -

Sitting at the keyboard -

And the young enchantment there -

And still the colored ties -

The little Greek Archaic Smile -

I think I shall be writing

Poesy a while -

8-14-13

 

Catholic Jamie

Jamie said that every week

They ate a bite of Jesus.

And every week when they went back,

Jesus Christ was whole.

I thought this sounded silly

And I laughed. And then exploded

Through the door his mother

Who yelled at me for laughing.

Catholic Jamie, my first sex

Alone or with another,

Told me everything to do.

I loved it. Krakatoa!

8-14-13

 

Contest

When I was 27,

Righteous daddy said to me,

“We heard that night with Tommy

When you were 17.

The house has vents and voices carry.”

I answered, “It was silly.

Surely you did something silly

When you were a boy.”

“Yes,” he said. “Just once. I knocked

Your mother up with you.”
“That is very clever, dad.

I live with Tommy now.

To hell with Proposition 8.

You were not invited.

However I'll admit your shot

Was deadlier than mine.

I wish you in another world.

You wish me in the ground.”

8-14-13

 

The Stray

Living in the country -

Dirt and vines and trees -

I hated it -

Then city isn't better.

In my distant memory

There is a momma cat

And an injured kitten sick

Behind a wire screen.

Helplessly the kitten mewed.

The momma was alerted

Spoke back and lured

The kitten to the screen.

The kitten wasn't hers. A stray

From someone else's vineyard.

The momma with some difficulty

Reached the injured kitten

Whose eyes I think were matted shut.

The momma cat rebelled,

Hissed and drove the kitten off.

And then I don't remember.

8-14-13

 

Analysis

A thoughtless repetitious beat -

Violent concussions -

He pounds the drum -

And several men -

A thing that I was told

Many years ago

Is easily accomplished

By a teenage boy -

Grab the strings of four guitars

And gratify their souls -

And a singer with a voice

That isn't pretty anyway

Yet never learned to sing

Which is quite superfluous

As all he does is scream -

Take the crown from Clooney, Crosby,

Sills and Blossom Dearie.

8-14-13

 

No People

I don't write about the human race.

I can't look any deeper than I see.

I write about some entities from space,

Though neither do I know, or they know me.

Human beings congregate and play.

The youngest of them even understands.

If you are alone, or if you're gay,

The kindest ones just laugh behind their hands.

They think they're right. Oh Jesus! Do they ever!

Proposition 8. The south. And gore.

They laugh and smile. But nothing's very clever.

They have opinions, but they go to war.

8-14-13

 

Repression

He didn't tell the truth.

He never had.

Jeopardy.

Making someone mad.

Startled into terror,

Hiding fears,

He'd been like this for

67 years.

At last he said

(The question was abrupt),

“It bothers me when people interrupt.”
A twitch. A tremor.

He began to shake.

And then collapsed.

A horrible mistake!

Just once he told the truth.

He hadn't lied.

In a spasm suddenly he died.

8-14-13