101 Calypso

A good man’s fault
Lost into the ground
born subdued, in silence and wonder

The awe of hearing one’s name
Barely whispered over a shoulder
Fearful turning

Finding nothing there

Finding no one

145 Hades

Arms thrown away
Through returning hoops of thought
Yachting around the muck
The royal wind in his face

Eating fingers then
We rush to the railings
And watch Nelson’s Pillar go by (in rubber boots and epaulets)
(What was Daedalus doing in Irish town?)

Well, you can kiss my ass
And send me the bill.

ReBirthDay

Pink Square here, you
average savage fish.
The red you seek is
over there.

Here are bread and circuses
and foxy boxers
and too-tanned dancers


all now eating the table cloths
and silverware
at the celebrity buffet

and to me:
Happy Rebirthday!

Useful Madness

These wings
that took so long
to learn to use

Are now useless against the sky-

turned to water

turned to fire

turned to stone

216 Scylla and Charybdis

Very well,
said through jets of cleaned teeth
ending their days in silk hats
practicing good Catholicism and
useful Charity.

Treeshade inkstained here comes the
wife droll and zealotry
crossing soldiers for sailors
“If I had served my god as I had served my king he would not have abandoned me in my old days”


A great success

very well,
Very well, indeed.

Telemachus 6

How long will you stay in the tower?

You, who saved us from drowning

will soon cease to be

like the God of English

like the God of Gentlemen

You’re a dark man, a panther really,

shot from a cannon

and now having a snotty nose you show

your shaven cheek

your dreadful blade

and you wipe it clean then

gaze from the parapet again,
at the snotgreen sea.

You think of Mulligan and other dactyls

Ithaca 658

The accomplishment of temperature
The velocity of incisions
The absence of light
The presence of sound

If Bertrand shaves himself
Does Bertrand shave himself?
And what about all those other citizens of Berkley
Who do not shave themselves?

In the meantime, what to do with all those clattering reflections?