Izhar Patkin 23 May 2017

                    (Izhar Patkin, 1982)

Ghosts, suspended in
Recollections' veil,
Your promise
As painter,
     -The narrative: two
     -Holly Solomon
     -Commissions,
     -SoHo show;
Self-portraits revealed
Across wood stretcher,
Sceptres slick,
Turpentine,
     -Crown of salt crystals,
     -Hardened tears, lodged stones,
     -Hospital
     -I.V. drips;
Diaspora a
Porous room, vigor
Muscling at
Memories,
     -Hand, eyed, circumscribed,
     -Material weight
     -Lifting paint,
     -Atlas shrugged;
Weathered decking sides
Sandbox crossed barefoot,
An outdoor
Shower sprays,
     -Against walls, shower,
     -Tiles, headboards, cupped in
     -White briefs, hand
     -Jobs, smooth ass;
Water spreads, dripping
Between slats, pooling
Reflections
Of sea grass,
     -Friend of, kid, brother,
     -Guy, Puerto Rican,
     -Italian,
     -Norwegian;
Cottage, sea neutered,
Tans, greys; window panes,
Scene numbed, tide's
Slow retreat,
     -Window washer, long
     -Haul trucker, waiter,
     -Fine artist,
     -Grad student;
Doors ajar, sun dried
Swimsuits, towels draped on
Railings, chaise
Lounges, beach chairs,
     -Mark, Anthony, Chris,
     -Robert, Rick, Hector,
     -Keith, Patrick,
     -Phillipe, John;
White sheets tussled, pulled
Up on paired beds, wedged
Into half
Share bedrooms,
     -Bronzed skin tendered, pecs,
     -Abs pulled down, turning
     -Paired quarter
     -Moons rising;
Crystal lined, bottles
Stoppered, monogrammed
Napkins piled
With place mats,
     -Citronella scent,
     -Barbecue smolder,
     -Sunset squeal
     -Of tape deck;
Dragon headed ring
Drifts across outdoor
Pool propelled
By tail winds,
     -Five guys swim suited,
     -Afternoon challenge:
     -Who makes the
     -Biggest splash?
A pool boy, not gay,
Troubled the waters
With brush trimmed
Telepole,
     -A few of last year's
     -Housemates waited at
     -Sayville's stop,
     -Wine, breads, packed;
Refrigerator,
Emptied out, humming,
Ice maker,
Percussive,
     -Wheelchairs, red wagons,
     -Pushed, pulled along, canes
     -Progressing
     -Down boardwalk;
Phone, ignored, harangues,
Tea dance postcards hang
Around, dunes
Cast, heedless,
     -They sit, contemplate
     -Pool circulation,
     -Divining
     -Its message;
Plainchant rises, voice
Prevails, recedes, bells
Wind chimes, horns
Converging,
     -Paired attendants poised,
     -Anchoring elbows,
     -Transfer to
     -Slippered pointes;
Meat Rack matchstick flame,
Comet streak, embers
Ground out, heat

Suffusing,
     -Roars of laughter, eyes,
     -Sapphires, em'ralds
     -Sparkling, they
     -Reminisce;
Forceful hands, (behind),
Shove down, (in front), draw
Forward, hold:
Swallow; gag,
     -Invade Pavilion
     -Tea dance, trio donned
     -Taffeta,
     -Wide-brimmed hats;
Flailing arms, waistbands-
Shorts, underwear- yanked,
Hole fingered,
Spit spread, slammed,
     -Sequenced sashay, boys'
     -Gyrations restrained,
     -Tropical
     -Cocktails plied;
Blind urges spent, slipped
Off, orifice sprawled,
Spilled out, deer,
Hunters, watched,
     -Seasoned disarray,
     -Vintage guise, vantage
     -Guys', hands made
     -Soft made hard;
Hands, extended, held,
Enlisted in rise
Toward fragranced
Fabric clouds,
     -Wards of maids room link,
     -Stagger back, dogs walked,
     -Ferry brings
     -New of plague;
Pool emptied, covered,
Sheets held out, folded,
Stored in drawers,
Curtains spread,
     -Neutral tones, stainless
     -Steel, bleached crepe, sterile,
     -Flimsy drape's
     -Back exposed.

23 May 2017


   
   

Charles Ludlam 2 February 2017

(Charles Ludlam 1982)

                  (Charles Ludlam 1984) 

Dramas staged in front,
Words, curds, turds behind,
Rend controlled
Morton Street,
     -Passed father to son,
     -Taste amended Stu,
     -Pot luck Bob,
     -Cock au Van;
Hambone(d) Ham(let) once
Ham-fisted cured his
Bacon with
Hard faggots,
     -Mine tried milking cows
     -Until the doing
     -So soured,
     -Not his whey;
Oedi(pull) mined, bore
Bluebeard, w(h)ore Camille,
Dragged core, showed
More the door,
     -I played a child star,
     -Drank compliments, plied
     -Coffees, sketch
     -Pads, sneakers;
Trawled sideshows, screenplays,
Drawled marionettes,
Hauled school mates
To makeshifts,
     -Followed where lines led,
     -Connected the dots,
     -Steered around
     -Any holes;
Absurd, one over,
Fill-in, extra, 'Screen'
Usurper,
Hotelier,
     -Patron impressioned,
     -Practice imprisoned,
     -Rizzoli
     -Palimpsest;
Fire(d) women, webbed
Fabrications, studs,
Cross-dressed, drunk,
Drugged, pierced, pieced,
     -Agency ad men,
     -Laid men, mailmen, bussed
     -Boys, busted
     -Boys, waiters;
Scored to voice, vowel flow,
Bowels, predilection,
Tied to hand
Outs, jobs, maids,
     -Served by view, plate glass,
     -Guys posed, cruise mode, at
     -Christopher
     -Street exit;
Plot imbedded, lines
Piece goods layered, each
Ad-lib tucked,
Improv plumped,
     -Pencil deployed in
     -Mindless scales distracts
     -From portrait
     -Progression;
Attention suctioned,
Competitors played
Down, upstaged,
Or sidelined,
     -Bone structures outlined,
     -Musculature bulked
     -Up, seated
     -As breaths draw;
Epic aspic which
Refused to gel, meat
Pieced, greased, floats,
Loincloths flashed,
     -Hands deformed, monster
     -Feet hid, shod -crude jabs-
     -Angelic 
     -At summit;
I invented me:
Playwright-director,
Actor-prick,
Designer,
     -Farm boy, city boy,
     -Pretty party boy,
     -Arty blond,
     -Witty bombed;
I give myself up,
Enter characters
Of my own
Creation,
     -Hick, itinerant
     -Painter sweet talks farm
     -Boys into
     -Posing nude;
Priest, parishioners,
Rituals rehearsed,
In soulful
Sacrifice,
     -Butterflied faces
     -Fixed on boards, writhing,
     -Concentric,
     -Darkened stacks;
Forbidden freak show
Ensemble wrestling,
Referee
In caged roles,
     -Placid blue eyes, bald
     -Lies beneath combed strands,
     -Tied in knot,
     -Buttonholed;
Take off your made up
Face, costume, changeling
Sex, fronted
Certitude,
     -The art world love child
     -Pretender, can sell
     -It direct
     -From the can;
Picture frame, in the
Round, box office, grant
Cycles, the
Critics' spin,
     -Pictures, framed, unframed,
     -Hung around, art show
     -Rounds, dealers'
     -Critics' spin;
I observe, eavesdrop,
Take a lot of notes,
Let things dance
Around me,
     -Anatomist, Tulp
     -Like, dissects his Kindt
     -After dance
     -On scaffold;
Tradition gorged on,
Old Fashioned imbibed,
Glutton on
Dining car,
     -Club car cosseted,
     -Travel through air, no
     -Platform, dive,
     -Gutter breached;
Diving in on stage,
The only place you're
Alive, art
Of body,
     -Charles untied, gay, grey,
     -Sighed, winked, embodied
     -Pimp, taker
     -Of quarters;
Would I want to live
Through a tragedy
Unless it
Were on stage?
     -Closing night, lights turned
     -Low, man in bed holds
     -Hand of a
     -Visitor.


2 February 2017