(Francis Boushay 1983)
Gay, minimalist poetry focused on the portraits, and art of Larry Stanton, NYC, AIDS, and the years around 1984.
Takedown Portraits
Monday, December 28, 2020
Francis Boushay 4 February 2021
(Francis Boushay 1983)
Friday, October 16, 2020
Ken(nan) Gault 26 December 2020
(Ken Gault 1982)
Friday, September 11, 2020
Patrick Porter 20 January 2020
(Patrick Porter 1983)
(Patrick Porter 1981)
(Patrick Porter)
Camera shy you
Couldn't be among
Eyes counting
On a shot,
-Delicately drawn
-Out from collegiate
-Field to share
-A hot house;
Understood to be
Unavailable-
Straight- intrigue
Invited,
-Wolves gathered at the
-Doorways, under the
-Windows, or
-Improvised;
Strong armed chaperones
Negotiated,
A tea dance
Translated,
-Tones commensurate
-Unlocked prefigured
-Innocence
-In profile;
Temple gyrated,
While beauty and its
Beasts engaged
In worship,
-Redirected gaze
-Appropriated
-Submissive
-Demeanor;
Tabula rasa,
Demure conveyor
Of sublime
Contrivance,
-Collective pastel,
-Kabbalah readings
-Fixated
-Rendering;
Neutral observer,
Copse copulation,
Migrating
Shower crowds,
-Reverse portrayal
-Isolated, ground
-Rectangles
-Counterpoised;
Singular, table
Voices divulged honed
Gossip with
Cutting bite,
-Mundane disclosures
-Pictorially
-Absorbed by
-Gessoed skim;
Guest ancestries staged,
Epidermis beige
Tanned, buffed with
Sandpaper,
-Brown hair coarsened, eyes
-Skirmished with dog day
-Kin, tongue licked
-Sun chapped lips,
Three seasons en plein
Air exhibition
Watershed
Abandon,
-Hockney snapped cedar
-Framed, showering boy,
-By artist's
-Permission;
Faced back, distinctions
Shrank to remnants in
Super 8
Camera,
-Business attired,
-Crisp, white shirt, knotted
-Necktie of
-Coaxed portrait.
20 January 2021
Christopher Makos 16 January 2021
(Christopher Makos 1969)
Raymond Foye 30 January 2021
(Raymond Foye 1981)
Watched from behind the
Scenes, as Bob, Rene,
And Eric,
Imploded,
-Dodged pose, pressed into
- Paper edge, shaken
-When fledglings
-Hit concrete;
I can't sleep on floors,
Bum cigarettes, beg
For my food
On the streets,
-Wisecrack with wordsmiths
-Wearing their prep school
-Blazers to
-Drink cocktails;
Got to be outside
Of my head to hear
Oracles
Proclaiming,
-Coffee shop windows
-Muffled shoplifted
-Faces from
-Rumors spread;
Seeing something through
Someone else's eyes,
Emperors
Wear new clothes,
-Stream of consciousness
-Dares you: colourful
-Curlicues
-Enshrining;
I can remember
Thinking, 'How can I
Do that?' while
Protected,
-Skate the treachery
-Of benefactors,
-Misreading
-Ice thickness;
Or eliminate
Accumulated
Lechery
Of art books,
-To delineate,
-With refined brush strokes,
-Eros of
-Spines subtly;
Pile quotidian,
'Til emotional
Connections
Have surfaced,
-Dial cerulean
-Static reception
-So signal
-Penetrates;
Poet delegates:
Each a camera
'Nailed on bone,'
Then dispersed,
-Words, which 'sledgehammered
-White walls', misprinted,
-'Saxophones
-Infiltrate;'
'Would you wear my eyes?'
Mattress disheveled,
'Bargaining
From steel cage,'
-'Rimbaud bleeds over
-My stolen pants,' 'dipped
-In poems,' to
-'Wrap my corpse;'
'Painter, paint me a
Jail,' in the red paint,
'Yellow-eyed
Dog whistled,'
-We devoured each
-Other word by word,
-'Plucking rolled
-Balls of sound;'
'Bathroom stalls have ears,'
So share no secrets,
Billie's pitch
Stuck to walls,
-'Doctors hide foreskin
-Strips inside chart notes,'
-'Strangle with
-Noose of books;'
'Jazz, listen to it
At your own risk,' with
The needle
Going down,
-'Songs are like tattoos,'
-Razored blues, speakers
-Blasted in
-Stereo;
The carefully made,
Startling beautiful,
Remembrance
Of lost time,
-The fully bared, laid
-Out, encumbrance of
-Transient
-Perceptions;
Journals, notebooks, dumped,
Retrieved, burnt, soaked, dried:
Words, arranged,
Rearranged,
-Radiator steamed,
-Painted over, torn,
-Obtrusive
-Abstractions;
'I can get very
Bored with my own things,'
The mourning
Of a poem,
-'I sit here writing
-For fear of seeing
-What's outside
-(Of) my head.'
30 January 2021
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
William S. Burroughs 19 November 2020
(William Burroughs 1983)
Fearful of nightmares,
Hallucinating
Little men
Playing house,
-Terror of nightmares,
-Melancholic tones
-Textured by
-Fear, guilt, rage;
'Ghostly grey figures,
Apparition of
Green reindeer
In the woods,'
-Nude figures cut out,
-Genitals cut off,
-Scissors gripped
-By stained hand;
Red phosphorus mixed
With potassium
Chlorate, black
Powder bombs,
-Sudden outbursts sprayed
-Explosive temper,
-Violent
-Forces stirred;
Pistol in shoulder
Holster, assembled,
Pin readied
Tommy Gun,
-Gun metal rifles
-Pulled off walls, pointed,
-Brown bovines
-Switch their tails;
'Let me show it to
You... real beauty...I
Love the feel
In my hand,'
-Chain smoked cigarettes
-Sucked down, stomped out, in
-Back-room bars
-Swilling beers;
'You Can't Win' spelled it
Out: if found unlike
Others, best
Keep apart,
-Underdog's quick wit
-Joking undermined
-Threatening
-When cornered;
Boy, 'gibbon,' measured,
Weighed, Harvard lectured,
Eccentrics
Sacrosanct,
-Draftsman aped student,
-Won Cooper Union
-Semester
-Scholarship;
Thinking dissected,
Finger severed, son
Committed
To parents,
-Entry-level job
-Mindless, next job, wrist
-Transaction
-Leveraged;
Flunked enlistment, ducked
Draft, copywriter,
Bug sprayer,
Writ server,
-Piece de resistance
-Boy wonder flunkey,
-A saddle
-Amigo;
Jack, junk, Huncke, Allen,
Joan, Neal, orgone box,
Billy, Kells,
In snapshots,
-Arthur, David, A.,
-Henry, Ellsworth, B.,
-Barnett, Hans,
-The cutout;
New York, Texas, New
Orleans, Mexico,
Tangier, 'Lunch,'
Tri fold-ins,
-Europe, Africa,
-Europe, Florida,
-Five Village
-Subway stops;
Primordially
Disembodied graft
Absorbed male,
Oozed female,
-Cordially sublime
-Beauty encompassed
-Masculine
-Fruition;
Possessed by evil
Spirit, the sentence:
Recording
Instrument,
-Recessed conflicting
-Emotions in paint
-Strokes, drunk blind
-Hailed their cabs;
Interzone routines
Unpredictable,
Un-sequenced
Travelogues,
-Workspace frequented
-By local poets
-And artists,
-Keen sitters;
Cartographer's script,
Detritus, mixed for
Indexing,
Editing,
-Photographer's kit,
-Art supplies, art books,
-Painted, stacked
-Canvasses;
(Stock characters), Gimp,
Vigilante, Rube,
Shake Man, Kid,
Doctor, Nurse,
-Big city slicker
-Denizens, Village
-Wannabes,
-His subjects;
Moved to the Bunker,
Once YMCA
Boys' locker,
Mezzanine,
-Drinkers' noise sector,
-Basement studio,
-Shadow of
-Ninth Circle;
Midwest twang read out
Practiced underground
Passages
To the rapt,
-Lidless edginess
-Trapped on surfaces
-Bled into
-Dramatic;
Narrative driven
By daily typing
In drink, drugs,
Induced trance,
-Self-medicated
-Alcohol, depressed,
-Curated
-Ambitions;
Rodent bitten draft
Manuscript, pasted
Over bits
And pieces,
-Candid pencil takes
-Instinctively pierced
-Unwitting
-Disclosures;
Voices posturing,
Visions mirrored back,
Dimensions
Shattering,
-Choices pestering,
-Decisions battered,
-Buttressed eye
-Zeroed in;
Introspective, self
Analyzed, odd man
Outsider
Appraised all,
-Extrospective half
-Canonised surplice
-Conditioned
-Doubt sayers;
Wages, allowance,
Bail, drug sales, crop sales,
Advances,
Royalties,
-Scholarship, wages,
-Companionship, trips,
-Grantee, sales,
-Commissions;
Mote, Laura, Billy;
Giorno, Ginsberg,
James; Ian,
Mort, felines,
-Alice, Arthur, Tim;
-John, Julia Mayo;
-Holly, Charles;
-And Sidney;
'Cities of the Red
Night,' fiction refuge,
Cragged nova
Complexion,
-Grit of the red eyed
-Oracle's formal,
-Unrehearsed,
-Delivery.
19 November 2020
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;
Monday, May 25, 2020
Henry Howard 23 July 2020
[Study of Holbein's] (Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey no date)
(My) '...achievement small
In scale and flawed...' I'm
'...merely a
Man who served,'
-I contrived to show
-Court bard broadside, through
-Pains, travails,
-Attaining;
A 'literary
Personality'
Whose pen's work
Was 'distinct,'
-Is still in print, as
-Mercenary ken
-Moves pieces
-By default;
Faint praise when charged as
Borrower of text
In Latin
Translation,
-'Neither borrower
-Nor lender be,' traced
-Lines patterned
-Depiction;
'Many things tasting
Of a noble mind,'
Sir P. S.
Tongued the block,
-Too 'tender aged,' lodged
-Predilection when
-Ranked, Chaucer,
-Spenser, you;
Insurrectionist's
Vocabulary,
'Words, words, words,'
Formation,
-Illustrator's stirred
-Incubus foments
-Primary
-Canvasses;
'Victorious his
Lance, matchless his pen,'
Geraldine
Bird laments,
-'Perchance to dream' that
-Prick-tease heralded
-Scholarly
-Renewal;
'Windsor, wherein seems
Lust and joy did tread,
Pleasant dreams,
Quiet bed,'
-Tendrils extracted
-Of boy's foolery,
-Bachelor's
-Bowery;
'We have fought and chased
In active games, rein
Nimble braced,
We did strain,'
-I have lain, encased
-In cornstalks, food brought,
-Left in peace
-My gamble;
'No secrets forborn,
Or promise unkept,
Friendship sworn
Where trust leapt,'
-Lawrence's pencil,
-Adept in kinship's
-Fist, garnered
-Likenesses;
'Blood forsakes my guise,
Where is my fere, whom
Woes freed, lies,
Plaints entomb,'
-Boxer's torso, knee,
-Pubic plaits festooned
-Conformist
-Forbearance;
'I see that things pitched
Not as outward poke,
Wrapped in stitched,
Crafty cloak,'
-Courtier Lawrence
-Engaged attentions
-To flesh out
-Dramatic;
'Garments to clothe your
Naked man suffice
To lecture
Clad in vice,'
-Moth furred armature
-Swept from sedulous
-Heads fixed by
-Taskmaster;
'By princely acts I
Strove to make endure,
Houses high
Set my cure,'
-Royalty's mister
-Courted credentials
-To stave off
-Creditors;
'An heir unaligned
Shall reap fruits I sow,
Goods resigned,
Title crow,'
-Each peer survived suits
-Lifetime succession,
-Lucrative
-Patronage;
'My soul offended
With griefs of follies,
Bells mended,
Scourged mollies,'
-Myself confounded
-By correspondence,
-Lads spread out
-Spelling paint;
'Burdened dissolute
At the Lord's behest,
'Til refute
Viper's nest,'
-Chastened, compulsive
-Paper procurer,
-Cotton limned
-Where flesh foiled;
'When sudden storms heave
Falsehoods to assail,
Crosswinds reave,
Safe ports fail,'
-Where leaden forearms
-Paused, bettors wagered
-Appointments
-Steep decline;
'These newly risen
Men would by their will
Unchristen
Chosen krill,'
-European tour
-Unfastened vaults of
-Luminous
-Collections;
'Scarce hath seed formed man
When death leads to earth,
Branch's span
Lopped from birth,'
-Five decades ceded
-Level planche to prop
-An easel,
-Fresh soled shoes;
'My glass presents me
A determined breast,
Thrawldom free
Planted rest,'
-My craft predestined
-A life's dependence
-Composing
-Eminence.
23 July 2020
Friday, April 17, 2020
Morris Golde 26 May 2020
(Morris Golde 1981)
Tim's note: 'A pretty
And pretty drunk blond
Boy (sporting)
A blazer,'
-Ashbery party
-Pretentious forsworn-
-Before I
-Quit drinking;
Tim, quoting Morris:
'An incredible
Beauty on
All levels,'
-Circling the social,
-Artistic fish bowl,
-Feeding off
-The substrate;
Berkson on Village:
'Intense assertions,
Pro and con,
Gushes, slaps,'
-Nonpartisan ponce
-Allegedly quipped
-Scorecard on
-Proceedings;
Impassioned broadside
Ricocheted dance floor,
Sandwiches
Suspended,
-Boston Virgil bear
-Hugged Brooklyn Aaron
-Shouting (S)te(i)n
-Commandments;
Erick claimed a clear
Space, cantilevered
Somatic
Extension,
-Frank stubbed cigarette
-And cheered, 'I just thought
-Something ought
-To happen;'
Alvin sight read from
Lucia's sheets, nodding
To John at
Intervals,
-Lenny scrutinised
-Physique's elastic
-Skin tones for
-Indentions;
Top down Jane blocked off
Goings on, peering
At wall stains
Vanishing,
-Tim brandished pencil,
-Michael Press program's
-Damp water
-Mark John's way;
Arranged Jane resolved
The mounting tension,
'I have the
Coffee set,'
-Marc mimicked airborne
-Plane on Morris's,
-Lenny's heads,
-'Bombs away!'
'There is a balance
To be maintained,' wigged
Out Edward,
As Agnes,
-Edwin nagged her, as
-Him, 'That's the Mrs.
-W's
-Last sandwich,'
'Parlance ham-fisted,'
Maurice observed of
Paper plate
Residue,
-Tony butted in,
-'No matter how you
-Slice it, so...
-Out to lunch;'
'If I could wrap my
Hands around,' Michael
De called it:
'Trois-si-dos,'
-Gene reconfigured,
-'Stations sans de Croix'
-'Upside down!'
-Michael howled;
'Make a cushion in
Your head for the street,'
Mused Scott, with
Downturned bowl,
-Maggie frowned, beat source
-Clammed, Richard, Clinton
-Proposed an
-Audition;
Arnold nosed garbage,
Boosted the meat source
For his 'Red
Eye of Love,'
-Kenward whispered that
-He corresponded
-As heiress
-With grocers;
Maxine misheard that
Vincent was 'gorging,'
John's prive
Coup de corps,
-In Vermont, Ron blew
-His blaze cinder boards
-To great balls
-Of fire;
Kenneth revait Red
Robin formation,
Yeats' gyre
Widening,
-Barbara found Morris
-On his knees, wrapping
-Up slippers
-For Wystan.
26 May 2020
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Roger Trefousse 19 April 2020
(Roger Trefousse 1982)
(Ben Weber)
Peripatetic
Vocal rebuttals
Disrupted
At midstream,
-Pretzeled, pathetic,
-Defensive lineman
-Doggedly
-Tightened hole;
Nocturnal debuts
Colloquial strides
Keyed over
Telephone,
-Diurnal caboose
-Parochial prey,
-Narrow guage
-Discipline;
Autodidactic,
Bare boned copyist,
Dismantled
Components,
-Tempered scholar, piqued
-Reproductionist,
-Glissandoed
-Ostacles;
Camp anchorite dished
Delectations of
Consummate
Home cooking,
-Damp Mennonite corked
-Ladies Parties fizzed
-Charades for
-Candidness;
Purveyors foraged,
Exotic spices,
Butcher cuts,
Choicest fruits,
-Calf love disparaged,
-Cantaloupes squeezed, plums,
-Stewed in juice,
-Swallowed, spit;
One day spent shopping,
Preparing, one day
Spent cooking,
For hour,
-Hours observing,
-Sketching, weeks spent brushed
-Back, finding,
-For a glance;
Voluptuous soup,
Frisson greens, lardons,
Filet de
Boeuf en croute,
-Morris Golde grouped,
-Dickerson, Cooper
-Cordoned, Rounds
-Rib cage crushed;
Mindless bagatelle,
Flourished caprice, red
Cabbage sweet,
Sour notes,
-Chalked breakfast specials,
-Mascara streaked kid,
-Belched powdered
-Sugar knot;
Sublime aroma,
Pinched cumin, curry,
Infused cream,
Chicken broth,
-Subsumed diner scents,
-Toast, coffee, bacon
-Grease rendered
-Griddle eggs;
Maror undertones,
Bitter chicory,
Wilted, red
Vinegar,
-Savoured indulgence,
-Melted butter spread,
-Cinnamon
-Sticky bun;
Mantecatura
Modulated drone,
Crackle, hiss,
Fingering,
-Register ping, popped
-Up click, refill glug,
-Cast iron
-Sizzle, scrape;
Scaled symposium,
Spooned here, forkful there,
Cut apart
Puffery,
-Rush hour cram course
-Scooped off styrofoam,
-Or grabbed from
-Paper bag;
Bombay terrace, Swiss
Bower, London flat,
In New York
Apartment,
-Polish tea shop, French
-Bistro, West Village
-Regulars'
-Greasy spoon;
Lukewarm goulash spilled
By arthritic hand,
Stoic dogs
Under foot,
-Prosaic settings,
-Spelled out, left blank, took
-In crayoned
-Expressions;
Fantasia rose,
Wrapping him, naked
On bench, with
Hand marked sheets,
-Mark, squarely planted,
-Back strapped, weighed down with
-Random books
-Clenched to knee.
20 April 2020