(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
