mooooon how I adore you!
I care for you, darling, I love you,
the only reason I fucked L. is because you fucked
Z. and then I fucked R. and you fucked N.
and because you fucked N. I had to fuck
Y. But I think of you constantly, I feel you
here in my belly like a baby, love I’d call it,
no matter what happens I’d call it love, and so
you fucked C. and then before I could move
you fucked W., so then I had to fuck D. But
I want you to know that I love you, I think of you
constantly, I don’t think I’ve ever loved anybody
like I love you.
bow wow bow wow wow
bow wow bow wow wow.
nothing is as effective as defeat
always carry a notebook with you
wherever you go, he said,
and don’t drink too much, drinking dulls
the sensibilities,
attend readings, note breath pauses,
and when you read
always understate
underplay, the crowd is smarter than you
might think,
and when you write something
don’t send it out right away,
put it in a drawer for two weeks,
then take it out and look
at it, and revise, revise,
REVISE again and again,
tighten lines like bolts holding the span
of a 5 mile bridge,
and keep a notebook by your bed,
you will get thoughts during the night
and these thoughts will vanish and be wasted
unless you notate them.
and don’t drink, any fool can
drink, we are men of
letters.
for a guy who couldn’t write at all
he was about like the rest
of them: he could sure
talk about
it.
success
I had a most difficult job
starting my 14 year old car today
in 100 degree heat
I had to take the carburetor off
leap back and forth
adjusting the set-screw,
a 2 by 4 jammed against the gas pedal
to hold it down.
I got it going---after 45 minutes—
I mailed 4 letters
purchased something cool
came back
got into my place
and listened to Ives
had dreams of empire
my great white belly against
the fan.
Africa, Paris, Greece
there are these 2 women
I know who are
quite similar
almost the same
age
well-read
literary
I once slept with both of
them
but that’s all
over
we’re friends
they’ve been to Africa
Paris
Greece
here and there
fucked some famous men
one is now living with a
millionaire
some few miles
from here
goes to breakfast and
dinner with him
feeds his fish his cats and
his dog
when she gets drunk she phones
me
the other is having it
more difficult living
alone in a small apartment in
Venice (Calif.)
listening to the bongo
drums
famous men seem to want
young women
a young woman is easier
to get rid
of: they have more
places to
go
it is difficult for women who
were once beautiful
to get
old
they have to become more
intelligent (if they want to
hold their men) and do
more things
in bed and out of
bed
these 2 women I know
they’re good both
in and out of
bed
and they’re intelligent
intelligent enough to know
they can’t come see me
and stay
more than an
hour or two
they are quite
similar
and I know
if they read this poem
they’ll understand
it
just as well as they
understand
Rimbaud or Rilke
or Keats
meanwhile I have met a
young blonde from the
Fairfax district
as she looks at my paintings
on the walls
I rub the bottoms of
her feet.
the drunk tank judge
the drunk tank judge is
late like any other
judge and he is
young
well-fed
educated
spoiled and
from a good
family.
we drunks put out our cigarettes and await his
mercy.
those who couldn’t make bail are
first. “guilty,” they say, they all say,
“guilty.”
“7 days.” “14 days.” “14 days and then you will be
released to the Honor Farm.” “4 days.” “7 days.”
“14 days.”
“judge, these guys beat hell out of a man in there.”
“next.”
“judge, they really beat hell out of me.”
“next case, please.”
“7 days.” “14 days and then you will be released to the
Honor Farm.”
the drunk tank judge is
young and
overfed. he has
eaten too many meals. he is
fat.
the bail-out drunks