Steve Hamilton 2 September 2020

               (Steve Hamilton 198?)

'Today the toaster
Refused to toast the
Bread, reason
Unexplained,'
     -Last week, laundromat
     -Washer wouldn't spin,
     -Plugged in, lights,
     -Started, stopped;
'There's no reasoning
With these machines, so
There was a
Group: Luddites,'
     -Attendant looked, said
     -Something to herself,
     -Put up "Out
     -Of Order;"
'I'm seldom happy,
They said. Who could be
Happy at
Times like these?'
     -Given a token,
     -Laundry floated in
     -Detergent,
     -Dirt, water;
'The marvelous might
Be hiding under
The carpet.
Rip it up.'
     -If the sign is gone,
     -It's possible that
     -The washer
     -Has been fixed;
'I ripped the carpet
Up and I found dirt.
A pity.
Quel dommage.'
     -Also possible
     -That someone took off
     -The "Out of
     -Order" sign;
Left dirt behind, 'lost
Again when camel
Collapsed in
A desert,'
     -Commission relapsed
     -With Alex Katz's
     -'Nabil's Loft'
     -Pandering;
'Intrepid journey
To find Calypso
Singer, or
Water glass,'
     -An ipso facto
     -Gurney commandeered
     -To convey
     -Eyeglass glint;
'The alchemy of
Despair is seldom
A failure.'
Even now.
     -Ingredients of
     -Prell shampoo redeemed
     -Balcony
     -Of brown hair;
'It began raining
In the desert and
I almost
Choked on mud,'
     -Van Goghed window shade
     -Torments nocturnal
     -Poet in
     -Oil seed black;

'The Party is in

A troublesome state,

Run out of

Alcohol,'

     -'Comrades: we must take

     -Up a collection,'

     -Redeem all

     -The empties;

'Ten thousand birds fly

Out of my head. It

Must now be

In summer,'

     -Five hundred pigs roll

     -Out of their beds, it 

     -Must be a

     -Mineshaft night;

'Three pomegranates

On a silver plate.

It must now

Be in Rome,'

     -Two dharma bums, Six

     -Gallery reading,

     -Must be San

     -Francisco;

'I tried to achieve

Total inertia.

My efforts

Applauded,'

     -I applied solvents

     -To relieve tincture

     -Of viscous

     -Adherence;

'Past tense sense: absence

Of chance enlivened

The dance of

Harmony,'

     -Prevalence of chance

     -Invigorated

     -Advance toward

     -Resemblance;

'Object acquired 

More subject. Verbs lost

Their nerve. Rhyme's 

Memory,'

     -Posers exposed with

     -Tones, sitters composed

     -Of dabs, hand

     -Flicks eyeballed;     

'As stars exploded

Over Mars, we ran

Under a

Nearby tree,'

     -'To explore nature's

     -Fortifications,'

     -Which stored faint

     -Resistance;

'Wild beasts waltzed to tune

Of a fake earthquake

Which faded

To musings,'

     -Vulcan climax mooned

     -Metropolitan    

     -Jaded on

     -A blind date;

'But your smile's crystal

Flaccidity has

Deferred plans

For retreat,'

     -While placidity

     -Mitred violent

     -Edges from

     -Glossy lips;

'Cells were on the march,

My celibacy

Abandoned,'

Celebrate!

     -Balls held to the flame,

     -Bellicosity

     -Sequestered

     -Under bed;

'Who among you has

Ever thought to take

Some control 

Of this lust?'

     -Conjugate, discussed

     -Within grammar, a

     -'Technical'

     -Adjective.

     

 2 September 2020