Judy Roitman and I are reading at Spencer Museum at KU Thursday, Nov 19th 6:30 pm. First half will be reading from book All That. Second half some new things and I am posting them here for people to see as I read them. I would like to look out to audience and only see bowed heads lit up from the little bat phones. More info here: www.lawrence.com/mccrary
I am going to read several series in the following order: Oh So Bored, Meds, What this town needs is more monks, Swimming and Trip In Trip Out.
Oh So Bored I-VI
I - Bi Polar Juice
Assberry pie oh my what a waste of dough
And how about throwing that against a wall
Believe me it will stick to any vertical postulating
Mope east of big muddy and from hear it aint
That far matter of fact if I see one more reference to either
Of the above I will begin such a heart worming attack
That worlds will fall flat onto fucking
Second Avenue and statues of so called poets will
Collapse with great sound splatter.
Don’t count lines count hours.
Fair warning.
Knock knock knock it off.
II – Sonnets
You actually think I could go for that
Backbreaking syllables in order to find
Whatever Ted The Fed Berrigan left behind.
Ugh and ugh again who should look that up
Deserves to find it.
There you go sucker…that’s what you get for thinking in pig.
Man I could write a million of these.
III – Beat Me
You don’t know you don’t want to know
The annual nut bush brash bash of flea bite
NYC remembers nothing like old time
Ginsey and McSorley Blackburning nites in the
City of turmoil city turned off
Brotherhood of beat up clunks going nowhere
This the new beatattitude left behind
Be them other ones.
And lets hope a new downfall comes before the old one
Ends without sounding a net full of dead bodies
Made up of maddening fisheyed walleys banging thru
The neighboring right thinking bohunks in East7th St bars
So blasted none of em
Can can for a moment to soon.
IV – Corso vs anyone
She might have been the only Guest at the party
But Babs held her own and more if ya ask me even
If the last round went way to long and she was trapped
Against the fridge by Frankie ImSoHung who stumbled in
From a lunch quickie at the local beach bar.
Well who knew when the school would finally
Shut down for a long dry summer and the only
Person still functioning was in a singular slide to
Nowhere fast call him Gregory and call him
Sufficiently talented to outlast the gimped up opposition.
And all hail anything that outlasted the1960’s
Goddess forgive I ever gave a second look to that
Dismal decade dumbass dumbness.
V – Right On
You could have called him Sammy the Abe
But that wouldn’t come near respect
Deserved for a guy who ran Le Place de St. Marcs
(the street that is) in the 70’s and the
Only one never did mention
Gem Spa in the poems I found.
But oh he would say come up and get
Comfortable…forget the revolution…
Smoke this.
VI – Poetas
I never saw this in no First Ave wiseguy bar
But maybe up just a bit towards Marx Place
“Ms. Sexton let me introduce Ms. Bishop.”
Now that is over
Lets get on with the next thing
And leave these two to each other.
That is not to say its all over for them
Just a reminder
That those two
Both put out more good
Than they got.
VI – Old is the new dead
George and I were the worst poets
In NYC 1969
That said with equal blush and
No proof in either the pie or print.
Who kept that stuff anyway
Some collector of the awful
I suppose.
Hey it was the day
Don’t ya know.
Here’s the deal
You may not have noticed
But when you are young
You write crap
Maybe later you wont
That’s how it goes.
VII Talk among each other
gari and kaci and anni and nadi
were eating some kurds and whey
om and om again on em
they were just so and why not
top of the mount st. poetica
so to say and rightfully so full of malarkey
that huge amounts of fame fell
like stars over st. marx place
so now along comes some new
slowbanger with some new
conceptual po po
just to tie up the mess left by
those guys and see what can
possibly out smart some of the smartest
nothing is new everything is permissive
it goes on and on and on
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MEDs
Simvastatin
Who knows what it can or
cannot do as is ‘claimed’….
Somehow it is suppose to
prevent elevated cholestrerol
levels in me..some sort of
simvastatin machine I suppose.
Could this be the end all?
Is this all I need? Am I now over?
Metroprolol Tartrate
angina angina o how I treat you…
beat back the heart beat…
beat back the pressure…
get this anvil
off my chest…
and dream a little dreamy dream.
Levothyroxine -
Well when you got the gout,
the screaming high blood pressure
and the ‘low thyroid
activity’ what is the choice…
or is it chance.
I guess ill take the levothyroxine
and hope increased levels of thyroid
activity don’t knock me off
my game at this time.
Will this shit inspire the muse
or not.
Amoxicillin
It may or may not
Kill the internal bugs
Or whatever
It may or may not
Stop the pain
It may cost $5.00 a pop
It may or may not bring comfort.
Oxycoddone
To ‘lose your mind’ and discover that
it is wrapped in a rare and welcome
relief. Pain relief really does mean
‘losing your mind’ and is a rewarding
experence. IF you are going to spend
time with medication….you could do
worse.
Hydrocodone
Clearly seperates the head from the
hip…as advertised…the loss of part
of ones body is replaced with the
softened mind of content. Rock the
cradle in the tree top. Never turn
down this offer from Mr.
Hydrogosleepynightnight.
Indomethacin
It may carry weight in certain
communities…but it is no more
than just a swollen toe come
from too much red wine with
dinner and dinner and dinner.
Whatever the cause the cure
is ageless. Keep yer head
down and your foot above it.
What more is the 21st century
about. This drug comes with
a award winning recommendation.
As with all medication, you
need to be aware that it
might work and you might
want more.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What this town needs is more monks 1
Not trying to be all uppity about it
Just a notion and wonder if
You could ever get used to living
Across the street from a wat
What this town needs is more monks 2
Just the least bit of something
Passing by in a line
Them again this time with bowls
Looking for rice from the women
On the block
Nice touch to dawn
What this town needs is more monks 3
One thing for sure
There are more gongs than guns
In Laos and even though
The USA tried mighty hard to introduce
Military hardware into the culture
They failed and it is obvious why
Gongs are followed by prayers
Five, six, seven, eight times a day.
What this town needs is more monks 4
We met a woman
As we walked in a lane
We asked her what she had been
Doing at the temple?
“Putting up lights!” was her answer
And there was no reason at all to ask
Any more
Questions.
What this town needs is more monks 5
The sudden realization that
the ones in white
Are nuns…
Not exactly enlightnenment
Almost but not quite the same
What this town needs is more monks 6
They appear quite suddenly
Standing next to and a step
Above you
Asking in English
Where you come from
As if you were more
Interesting and important
Than the Budda statue
We are all leaning on.
What This Town Needs Is More Monks 7
the woman was
walking her cow through
the wat…..
they both appeared to
be engaged with the monks
without getting all
charismatic
about it
What This Town Needs Is More Monks 8
the teenage monk
invited us to prayers
come when the gong gongs
sit in the back
don’t say anything
we don’t mind
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Swimming
The skin so delicate and
splitting an object
locally nown as agua
a move toward illusion
of depth lost
connection unknown
vertical for a moment
and then covered
in silence.
If I move it moves
for a moment it was familiar
it is only by repetition
foronce the phrase
come clean has emmense meaning
this could be forgiving
refraction may not be the
correct term
but it serves.
To get verticle - jump
to get horizontal - fall
testing the water is an
oxymoronic bit of physics
you cant divine a method
or compound a reasonable outcome
the water only accepts you
you go down
you go up or
you make an offer
it is impossible to find the bottom
although it is breathtaking
opaque doesnt even begin
refracted has no meaning
the fishduck is hysterical
distance is multiplied by breath
you are very much in the minortiy
in spite of your outfit
there may be something
to hang on to
bad idea
bad bad bad
if you this this is regression
you got a long way to go
all the new age is helpless
if you wanna go up - begin
there is a very good reason
to worship the sun.
Did i say the fishduck was hysterical?
I cant breathe
what a relief
distance is only imagined
what a relief
there is a language beyond me.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Trip in Trip out
To go away is a big step and this is one of them
Carrying something just for the weight of it can bog down
Even the longest line and then jump from here to there
Climb steps to wear one down and the other out
Landing just to walk to another country and still not “here”
Where ever it is catches up and sleep wakes the “lets go see”
Desire for a slight trip to a higher place then this
So better have flown and lived than not and before any
Backwards thoughts collect take a break for lunch
De-training just to say it no matter the accent or lingo
Just to say it brings fortune to one who has taken many a step
Walking and now again looking just for a night
Along this river in this city and on this street
For all its romance still hard to deny
Scooter dreams where pink Hello Kitty rules on the road
Not quite standing still to feel both the hot
Trade in silk and pomme frites each an other delight
Why not grab the tall one and knock it back
Seems to be the thing to do in all this mid day
Or find a fan to lie in front of either way
The thing that moves around until a short time is lost
Wake up and ask anyone and they will tell you
“It’s over there” and in a slightly familiar way it will appear
There is something to going along
Along with who ever shows up even necessary perhaps
Trust is not even noticed
Here are two guys and a boat flip flops ball caps
We say take us to Pakse
Well maybe not that easy no wait
Take us to champasak
Down the river if you don’t mind
Changing one small bit of direction
More trust than before you just get in and go
Past what seems nothing except
Some green and brown horizontal almost dozing
Surrounded by bamboo and a
Huge lack of ducks then more doze
Again and again
This thing could sink do they or not
Are we there… are those crators
How old is this anyway
Everyone fishing but nobody holding fish
There is a lot of green bank
There are numbers but no signs
Who’s running this boat….Hey wake up
The concept of along a big river
And alone on a big river
These guys switch at ease
They walk around us so we doze again
You have too…it is that easy
“I just want a Mekong kat with a Mekong hat.”
What you see isn’t possible is it
Wats around the next bend
Another bend
This is an amazing act
We give them us and say
Take us away and amaze us too
They can just stop
To pick you up it never fails
Or let you off over there
Which is universal and an idea too
Take our life and put us over there
Up there too …we want to go up there
And we cannot point it is not a local thing
however there are a lot of those
We want to get somewhere without knowing
how to say that again and again
It is honorable and renewable
Going slow in the middle of a big river
Again it is wats on the bank
Green as corn or so it seems
We will wake up and we will be somewhere
Else the river is not real or this is
So many steps to find a place
To land jumping up or out or jumping over
Carrying something heavy just to
Have it with you then the boat leaves
You gotta wonder where
And just then here IS the Mekong kat
The long nite has come we go in
another direction and come to a place
Really has been around a block
It demands something in return for sure
And seems to be looked after
With a great deal of quiet
Perhaps that is why it is Mekong
Or so some say
Maybe staring becomes more than
just a way of looking across that river
Which seems to be picking up speed
Monday, November 16, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
