sneaker’d classicists, intelligent lady millionaire

          literary Patron fag hags

          earth mothers of Lambeth, Trocadero,

          Hyde Park, 5th Avenue

blond haired journalists with bracelets, grand

          readers of Dostojevsky & Gogol—

senior editor escorts from Trotskyite weeklies,

lesbians sitting on glossy magazine covers—

what have we here? a kid moving from

          foyer to bathroom, thin body,

Pale cheeked with red cap, 18 year old window washer,

          came with Señora Murillo

She admired his impudence, amused by his

          sincere legs

as I admire his glance, he turns aside to

          gaze at me, I’m

happy to guess he’ll show his

          naked body in bed

where we talk the refined old doctrine,

          Coemergent Wisdom

Lódz’, October 5, 1993

9:15 P.M. at “Construction in Process”poetry reading

After Olav H. Hauge

I

Some live on islands, hills near Trondheim

Some in St. Moritz, or the forest depths

Some lonely have beautiful wives

castles, fine carpets on Wall Street

Buy & sell currencies, solitary on marble floors

consumed by a passion for fossil fuel

magnetized by cannons, lasers, bombsights, enriched uranium

or together play the stock market

They live & die at the throw of the dice

They’re all businessmen

who have found eachother.

II

Fermented Jungle

North wind blows

Fish fly around the room

wind dies down

Fish fly under water.

III

Sometimes the Godliness

          strikes me as heroic

People mill about

Bodø won the Norwegian soccer cup

It’s so crowded, fans are drunk

People’s feet get mixed up

That big man wanders around

               lost, barefoot

he can’t find his feet—

Finally he goes out, late

on his way home

not sure if he’s on

his own two feet

Trondheim, October 25, 1993

These knowing age

These knowing age

fart

These knowing age

walk slowly

these knowing age

remind themselves of their grandmothers

these knowing age

take waterpills, high blood pressure,

          watch their sugar and salt

these knowing age eat less meat, some

          stopped smoking a decade ago

Some quit coffee, some drink it strong

These knowing age saw

best friends’ funerals, telephoned

          daughters & granddaughters

Some drive, some don’t, some cook, some

          do not

These knowing age often

keep quiet.

Munich, November 5, 1993

C’mon Pigs of Western Civilization Eat More Grease

Eat Eat more marbled Sirloin more Pork’n

          gravy!

Lard up the dressing, fry chicken in

          boiling oil

Carry it dribbling to gray climes, snowed with

          salt,

Little lambs covered with mint roast in racks

          surrounded by roast potatoes wet with

          buttersauce,

Buttered veal medallions in creamy saliva,

          buttered beef, by glistening mountains

          of french fries

Stroganoffs in white hot sour cream, chops

          soaked in olive oil,

surrounded by olives, salty feta cheese, followed

          by Roquefort & Bleu & Stilton

          thirsty

for wine, beer Cocacola Fanta Champagne

          Pepsi retsina arak whiskey vodka

Agh! Watch out heart attack, pop more

          angina pills

order a plate of Bratwurst, fried frankfurters,

couple billion Wimpys’, McDonald’s burgers

          to the moon & burp!

Salt on those fries! Hot dogs! Milkshakes!

Forget greenbeans, everyday a few carrots,

          a mini big spoonful of salty rice’ll

          do, make the plate pretty;

throw in some vinegar pickles, briny sauerkraut

          check yr. cholesterol, swallow a pill

and order a sugar Cream donut, pack 2 under

          the size 44 belt

Pass out in the vomitorium come back cough

          up strands of sandwich still chewing

          pastrami at Katz’s delicatessen

Back to central Europe & gobble Kielbasa