tatterdemalion
Christopher Mulrooney
contents
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tatterdemalion tatterdemalion order of merit recovery flag a brood of gangsters the mirror of oblivion foretold and then again how gracious you look down a very little lawyer |
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the rap umbrella the all fired hurry my dear will you farm converdsation piece a cold front on the way loudspeaker prehistory primeval |
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stronghold faux economy fantastic the city streets a politician’s speech scrolled makeover the background noise formidable tirra whoremaster the end of the line |
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how to curry favor in the market the oval office the monkey at the typewriter village explainer stronghold turn in loco parentis hypertutum up that crazy beat excommunication jakes |
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baldric hammerlock overdone do-over broadcast ancient questionnaire on guard watcher the treaty document the great cathedral vocable |
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solicitation the kennel Boston maison lecturer furniture and model destruction of evidence communiqué baldric |
tatterdemalion
tatterdemalion
the bill
comes due at the end of the month
you
pay with a stamp on it for goods and services rendered
ha a
sort of superfluity
like
the gangster’s wee gratuity
order
of merit
the
scum rises also in the swine pool
that
is the venerated joke
a
pig in a proverbial poke
bought
for some by yet some other fool
recovery
right
as rain says the poet or does he ask this
is
it a question thusly how are you
but
I am fine says the answer only just fine
fine
as wheat dandy as a daisy fair as June
as
he passes along out of view the poet making a note
flag
the
summer fleet is in down by the wayside flags and stones
keeping
by the wayside the summer fleet
a brood
of gangsters
quick
to herd shuttle and herd shunt as may be
with
a few quick words to assert the principle
that
one is in charge
the
street cleaners know and breeze by
kicking
up a cloud of dust
that
settles by and by down the years
the
mirror of oblivion
this
might be the condition you seek caught adrift in the Krakatoa Sea
meandering
on a very imprecise
river
foretold
the
humpbacked whales
you
shouted in my ear
as
we ran along the highway
something
about the humpbacked whales
over
and over again
and
then again
and
down the roll call we come to your name
your
own your very own
dribbling
from the ceiling like a stalactite
onto
a stalagmite we illuminate for tourists
how
gracious you look down
your
idea of a kind of success
lickspittle
is
to be drunk on the saliva of your masters
spitting
profusely
pardon
Flaubert this obtrusion of the ridiculous upon the sublime
afflatus
and effluvia
a very
little lawyer
we
were there to see the show
he
stepped into it like a showman out of the ranks
a
Washington insider
a
member of the Cabinet for Christ’s sake the charitably disposed
might
have mentioned Pope in his little suit
afterward
they named it City of Creatives
the
rap
I’ll
plead the defend the honor the
rest
my case on this here set of facts
it
can’t be true that this Hyperia
is
that satyress no no
someone
does her shopping for her
that’s
it
umbrella
the
queries got so many it had to be otherwise
they
were insisting to get out of the rain
we
closed up shop and moved to a very sunny clime
somewhere
in England river moss punting
but
we won’t say where
to
avoid a questionnaire
the
all fired hurry
flags
waving brass band the reporter’s loving outlook the wooden Indian
offering
every passerby a cigar
my dear will you farm
in
the furrows with a silo and all
for
the grain
will
you kindly mist over for the geese
migrating
as they do
it’s
all up to you
or
will you have of crow a piece
in
the rain
and
lose face beyond recall?
conversation
piece
I
might get a joke or I might not
depends
on my mood or what the weather is
if
it’s snowing or blowing or raining or sleeting
well
I just might close up shop and go home in a manner of speaking
but
if it’s sunny out
I
might laugh and then I might not as the mood strikes me
or
the weather
a cold
front on the way
just
like a Tijuana whore of either sex
the
furious paint job assiduously following the lines
loudspeaker
I
just want to add it’s wanting to add makes a horse race folks
and then
I dived in for the swim from Calais to the white cliffs of Dover
prehistory
when
Earth was spouting little puffs of smoke
and
hides of men the fashion came
of
building huts to live in out of the rain and caves
no more
the sky beheld the nightlong pitiful cries of proto-men
but
they learned architecture and what is more which is to say
the
lay of the land beyond all doubt and question
primeval
the
plenitude of what’s that’s history of dreams
refreshes
and dispels in the urgent sense of
marking
time for a new union of ordered beings
some
lofty thing held high above the waste
a
bit of a dangler and then consumed without trace
stronghold
faux
economy
humble
as a stock or peasant in trade
with
a trench broom plying the suburbs
on
behalf of
absent
landlords
fantastic
with
the guardian doors evoking ancient virgins
in
the light that never failed
a knock
on the door and the shouted name
set
in motion at the greatest distance imaginable
the
city streets
singularity
here is the Mars landing for you
with
the space creatures hideously Tojoing
a
race of future men
a
politician’s speech
not
the today of yesterday
he
is saying nor yet the yesterday of today
are
you following this
and
certainly not tomorrow’s yesterday
thank
God what a relief
that
is but to be sure
the
today of tomorrow
scrolled
it
all designed to bless the poet in need
even
more than the designer with a dozen mouths to feed
that
bless the stern the angry loss of toil
when
the city’s set upon the boil
and
smeltered into nothing paperweights
manufactured
by some company abroad V. Gates
makeover
now
the girl has another hope
and
cannot respond to inquiries
the
faintly female fellow in a corner of the room
having
felt her out upon the subject
will
play the man henceforth to wit
duet
for dykes like Beijing on a Sunday full of trikes
the background noise
a
cause for audio technicians there’s Greco-Roman for you if you like
the all
of human history if you please that din
that
fulminating hellacious caterwauling
loo-sound
formidable
right
on the ball the dumb sparrow with the one note
the
overgrown nestling always clamoring for a worm
please
mama a worm a worm for your little sparrow
minutes
days years
tirra
the
serene plain truth would you have
and
innocent as the day is long
of
any artistic pretensions
and
all to be sure for the price of a song
whoremaster
the
whoremaster has them in droves do you see
and
the finest part of all that is when they’re at it
client
and representative of the firm
he
exacts a transcription at five dollars a copy
and
sells it on the World Wide Web
the
end of the line
some
say it was a certain crack in the world
some
say different apropos of that
the
gimcrack school has just another theory
namely
to fill the void howsoever
how to
curry favor in the market
fountain
of youth and of mystery
and
that is O that is
in
Creative Writing classes
to
be sought and cured
like
Dana’s hides on the beach at old Los Angeles
the
oval office
the
telegram is laid
neatly
upon the desk
by a
servant in gloves
neatly
folded at the end of the day
it
reads Dear Sir
the
outlying monuments
thus
report in
the
message is passed on
to
European capitals
and
foreign embassies in many lands
for
that is how things are done
it is
protocol it is a way of doing things
of
getting things done after a fashion
the
monkey at the typewriter
they talk to me
about statistics
gibberish is all
I make of it
so much words so
much paper in a certain proportion
and there you
have it all summed up
village explainer
spitting and corpses are easily explained
the one against the evil eye
the others simply drunk
there’s for the guidebooks says my guide waiting for a tip from me
and paid by village contributions
stronghold
the point of
comedy
perhaps a long
suspension
on a ticklish
subject
whispers and
giggles
and the thrust
home
turn
handsome is as
does
in the sunset
breeze
it may seem
silly as things go
to squeeze a
tune from an old concertina
or harness the
horse for a gallop round
while the
tourist notes gather up the dying day
but what the hey
in loco parentis
Big Chief Wet Puss the Mayor of Prairie Dog Town
quiet you gophers
has this to say so mind your holes
go ahead Chief huzza
me have very many braves with ear to ground
to bring me news
now they all deaf with dirt
me need Tomahawk missile
launch heap big spy satellite
blanket world
ugh
Big Chief have spoken
hypertutum
I am not yet
satisfied old sod
you are yes you
are he replied
no no you are
not yes I am
and the gag
duologue dies out in confusion
up that crazy beat
down the asphalt jungle and up Park Avenue
the drums carry the message
Eat at Joe’s
excommunication
so you’re out
says the media specialist
no sale at the
client’s door
no you’re out says
the client closing it
jakes
you simply haven’t heard
two complete outside chances like these
number one the guy in charge of this fiasco a rare sight enough but
number two wow you never see him the financial backer
cool as a cucumber on a patch of dry ground
baldric
hammerlock
with
apologies the mugger stalks the car
apologies
and staring eyes in broad daylight
at the
shopping center in the great city of worldwide fame
overdone
do-over
that
second shot another identity not you any more
definitely
another person
not
there yesterday
unknown
to passport photographers and the press
completely
anonymous
to
say the least that can be said
do
you down that can be said
broadcast
the
slippery agent of a very foreign government
he
affects us all in various accents
but
in the long run gives himself away
lavishly
wondering at our laughable shibboleths
ha
ho he
ancient questionnaire
why
is the Franklin stove so popular in America?
because
you can stoke it up and it heats you
it’s
all in the name
it
has an attractive shape
all of
the above
on
guard
on
guard duty whilst the customers pass
one
who looks askance with a wry face
that
is the man
watcher
always
on patrol in this ward
vaquero
hat automatic weapon
kerchief
over nose and mouth
to
bring it to heel
a
Latin American custom
the
treaty document
the
plain discourse and I don’t know what it means any better than you do
except
what it is not will serve
here
is the dainty dinkins for a rough night
if
that is your cup of tea
the
great cathedral
it
is great disused
and
great Gertrude Stein would say
and
the ruins roundabout with Keats’ squatters
Keats’
visitor
Keats’
traveler
to
the great city
vocable
it
just escapes him who
who
do you think the poet at the sight of this
pearling
in his mind or that
who
do you think at all
solicitation
the
dull fellow
with
his hat in his hand
asks
for a few coppers
a
shelter anything
his
dullness spreading like a stain
not
of ink
the
kennel
out
where they keep the dogs and I do mean canines
the
dogmaster has his dog treats for them
and
to be sure the whip
Boston
if
you can find the city
by
rising in a balloon
or
mayhap digging into a construction zone
if
you can see past the surface
to
anything resembling the curtains and rods and windowsills
why
then you’re welcome and more power to you
otherwise
sink back down and backtrack
meditatively
reflecting like a pool the sky and monuments
maison
the
season grows the collection worn in Paris
that
is the makeup of a style on the hips and shoulders of
mesdemoiselles
lecturer
like
the bald critic
who
thinks he must criticize
this
reflexive academic
thinks
he must lecture
no-one
ever graduates
from
his school
furniture
and model
the
house stands empty
light
modulates
with
weather
the
sofa and other articles are there
the
beds and fireplace
the
kitchen etc.
articles
of clothing where they belong
books
etc.
destruction
of evidence
the
witness deposed that it was dismissed
says
the judge
and
that’s all
a
reward for services rendered
communiqué
the
language remained
incommunicado
through its practitioners were
throughout
the island green country
in
every palm leaf hotel cuspidor and avenue
always
the same song to be read and learned again and again
baldric
and
the sum total of that was what’ll you have
and
that was all right because two beers
we
had imagined a course altogether different
that’ll
be exactly right
but
that’s no problem your change it all adds up to
what
was I saying?