(Brad Gooch 1983)
Ninth Circle's basement,
The Beast buttoned tight,
I do this,
I do that,
-Takes in turpentine
-Cigarette faceoff,
-Finds a seat,
-A measure;
Touring Mineshaft by
Cigarette pinprick,
I watch this,
I watch that,
-Chicken hawk cruising
-Circle boys molting,
-I pluck this,
-I pluck that;
Attendant, the hands,
The ears, faced out when
Laundry, darks,
Sorted, lights,
-Circulating blond
-Boy drinking arts poured,
-Vintage sipped,
-Nouveau slurped;
Double helix with
Howard entangled,
I twist here,
He twists there,
-Young man loaned among
-Older collectors,
-Unwrapped here,
-Unwrapped there;
Suburban cushioned,
Pop up, pulled out, planned,
Won't ask, so
Don't spell out,
-Rural eruption,
-Back end, breech birth, 'Breathe!'
-Long gloves slick
-With life, loss;
Excavation of
Raw life from life dreamed,
I walk to,
I walk from,
-Blur the face, dull the
-Voice, bury body,
-Pulled downward,
-Lost under;
Cerebral laurels
Plied, thicket beckoned,
Probing skin
Deep pool side,
-Touchstones, library
-Thumbed illustrations,
-Techniques to
-Copy, own;
Rectangular, squared,
Oval, circular,
What peers out:
Who are you?
-Left behind, with tip
-Piled, chipped coffee cup,
-Chair slid scrape,
-Seat pad warmth;
Andy, Melinda,
David, and Arnaud,
I sat here,
I sat there,
-Arthur, Henry, with
-David, and Alice,
-We went here,
-We went there;
Books, of pictures, filed
Paradise Lost, found,
Fruit filled, yet
Fig leaf free,
-Portraits shaped against
-Circle's Bedlam cries,
-Dreams confined
-To four walls;
Entr'acte, borrowed set,
Roles long ago cast,
Musical
Walk-on part,
-Dealer, freed to lock,
-Kill lights, co-habit,
-Block off all
-The exits;
Notebook confessions,
Who did what to whom
Notches, belt
Unbuckled,
-Pocketed paper,
-Nights' recurring doubts,
-Flattened out,
-Deciphered;
Citrus sectioned from
Whole, boyfriend, fuck bud,
Act, ass: sweet,
Acidic,
-Pedal pushed, swinging,
-Pedal raised, forward,
-Uphill, staked,
-Downhill, braked;
Spliced plumes, one's spice laced
Pulse, one's languorous
Drawl, one's lewd
Squint, moist tongue,
-Graphite in practiced
-Hand, swooping, swerving,
-Popping a
-Wheelie stop;
Cathedral cloistered,
Self-guided chapels
Tour, tableaux
Close studied,
-Crammed in studio,
-Canvas on easel,
-Hearing each
-Portrait speak;
Sidestep depiction,
Howard straddled, shown
Lengthwise, a
Closed circuit,
-Mark, who's Howie, nude,
-In deck chairs, quick penned,
-Could show sex
-Positions;
Puzzle pieces next,
Cut out, should fit, sharp
Edged handled,
Fissured, whole,
-He drew himself, boy
-Faded, man formed, dark
-Lines thickened,
-Gaze haunting;
Lancelot leather
Bound, Thomas enshrined,
Third vault thus
Sacrificed,
-Ground down, poured between
-Sitter and surface,
-A soulmate
-Illumined;
Four, squared, porn doors wedged,
Actors' backstories
Scrolled as told
By writer,
-Brushed lips spilled gossip
-Earlier, night's crawl,
-Young poet
-Encountered;
Fifth, pink cocoon, made
Up women, plotlines
Corseted,
Cocktails plied,
-Mom's expectations,
-Alice's presence,
-Julia's deep
-Questioning;
Sneakers descend Ninth
Circle's east wall, day
Swillers pule,
Urine pools,
-Outsized canvas danced
-Around in a pair
-Of beat up,
-White high-tops;
Eyes fix from all sides,
Mouths mid-comment, space
Crammed, supplies
Strewn, sleeves rolled,
-Wrestler's neck slowly
-Pivoting, bull held
-Back in a
-China shop,
Shots from all angles
Taken out in back,
Larry talks
A blue streak,
-Brad unwinds from paid,
-Prompted model to
-City boy
-Poet, smokes;
Dream sequence: nightfall,
Ninth Circle, Howard
Stares, Richard
Speaks, Spitz casts,
-Iris blue background,
-Dark helmet, slash brows,
-Visor raised,
-Shirt rumpled;
Headshot exploded,
Vulnerable youth
Transparent
Through the man,
-Faces float out as
-Muted Greek chorus,
-Late night talk,
-Canvas, paint.
8 May 2016
Who did what to whom
Notches, belt
Unbuckled,
-Pocketed paper,
-Nights' recurring doubts,
-Flattened out,
-Deciphered;
Citrus sectioned from
Whole, boyfriend, fuck bud,
Act, ass: sweet,
Acidic,
-Pedal pushed, swinging,
-Pedal raised, forward,
-Uphill, staked,
-Downhill, braked;
Spliced plumes, one's spice laced
Pulse, one's languorous
Drawl, one's lewd
Squint, moist tongue,
-Graphite in practiced
-Hand, swooping, swerving,
-Popping a
-Wheelie stop;
Cathedral cloistered,
Self-guided chapels
Tour, tableaux
Close studied,
-Crammed in studio,
-Canvas on easel,
-Hearing each
-Portrait speak;
Sidestep depiction,
Howard straddled, shown
Lengthwise, a
Closed circuit,
-Mark, who's Howie, nude,
-In deck chairs, quick penned,
-Could show sex
-Positions;
Puzzle pieces next,
Cut out, should fit, sharp
Edged handled,
Fissured, whole,
-He drew himself, boy
-Faded, man formed, dark
-Lines thickened,
-Gaze haunting;
Lancelot leather
Bound, Thomas enshrined,
Third vault thus
Sacrificed,
-Ground down, poured between
-Sitter and surface,
-A soulmate
-Illumined;
Four, squared, porn doors wedged,
Actors' backstories
Scrolled as told
By writer,
-Brushed lips spilled gossip
-Earlier, night's crawl,
-Young poet
-Encountered;
Fifth, pink cocoon, made
Up women, plotlines
Corseted,
Cocktails plied,
-Mom's expectations,
-Alice's presence,
-Julia's deep
-Questioning;
Sneakers descend Ninth
Circle's east wall, day
Swillers pule,
Urine pools,
-Outsized canvas danced
-Around in a pair
-Of beat up,
-White high-tops;
Eyes fix from all sides,
Mouths mid-comment, space
Crammed, supplies
Strewn, sleeves rolled,
-Wrestler's neck slowly
-Pivoting, bull held
-Back in a
-China shop,
Shots from all angles
Taken out in back,
Larry talks
A blue streak,
-Brad unwinds from paid,
-Prompted model to
-City boy
-Poet, smokes;
Dream sequence: nightfall,
Ninth Circle, Howard
Stares, Richard
Speaks, Spitz casts,
-Iris blue background,
-Dark helmet, slash brows,
-Visor raised,
-Shirt rumpled;
Headshot exploded,
Vulnerable youth
Transparent
Through the man,
-Faces float out as
-Muted Greek chorus,
-Late night talk,
-Canvas, paint.
8 May 2016
