Takedown Portraits

Takedown Portraits
wrestling takedown

Saturday, July 18, 2020

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