songs for a new city

 

I

the award-winning ceremonies
light up the candelabrum
but what to any purpose?

oh to a purpose they do


II

I put it either of two ways
for you
you eat my bag of Frito-Lays
or poo

this from my staff of writers keynote
bought for the price of one new C-note


III

they drift away
and come back laughing
in a new suit of clothes
sans collar

maybe it’s rolled down into their shirt
to coin an image


IV

you wrap into some new image
quelques pensées
for what it’s worth

not here you hear
and from the rear
me too in vacancy


V

happiness was like a little star
tipped on its side
all day long and into
the night


VI

for them it is a holiday
the feast of new business

the wrecking crew


VII

red
VII red
this is no joke


VIII

Jacob Epstein
the sculptor
for your bust
no Gaston Lachaise
undoubtedly


IX

they tore down the mortuary
for the sake of an apartment building
which made the old church cuter
but then they tore it down too
the old church for an apartment
building


X

soft as any thigh
the underdown
of any Kolinsky brushes


XI

your face is like a warm peach
with the sun on its folds
hot


XII

merchant
your melons are for sale
as at some wayside bazaar
in the Casbah or somewhere


XIII

like
Robespierre’s têtes
the city has a mind of its own


XIV

small and tortured
the Monterey pine
is beautiful as bonsai


XV

where do they camp the Yahoos
as in some sacred pilgrimage

I have been with Houyhnhnms


XVI

I have eaten my (2) chocolate cake
and (2) orange juice
and on an airplane flight
I have had the jet lag

the world going one way
and me another


XVII

poised over the match flame
she lights her brazier
in the stereotypical night
full of whatnot and stars