for Oren Silverman
just as two lines arrive in the poem as a couplet
so two policemen arrive at the edge of the world
one in front of the other, but from a different angle
simply parallel, proving authority’s only the arrival
of an imposition imposing its rule on whomever
allows the flower to wilt in the tiny world of its water glass
what is the image of happiness if not when
alarms ring out in the world & we ignore them
all the police aimlessly wandering through our poems
the sad pride of all the police aimlessly wandering
how wonderful to sit here and hum
purposefully alive with the fires of boredom
from The Year of the Rooster
You & Roo’s collaborative poem
on the ills of capital
You & Roo’s condemnation of nudity
with all clothes removed
Blah, blah, blah… the body, etcetera
La-la-la… Lacan, etcetera
All these poets disgusted by flowers
ashamed of the semen covering everything in sight
Blah, blah, blah—the body
La-la-la—Lacan
This bare spot where bark’s abraded
is perfect for carving your name
Go ahead, throw a tantrum
Tumultuous terrible eros pierces everything
so like a dance whose choreographer insists
each participant know only her own part
producing on stage the genuine surprise
life otherwise lacks
WHY I AM NOT AN ACADEMIC
There’s the sun
And there—the culture of sun
The first word spoken in its shadow was a verb
The first spoken in the shadow of its shadow, an adjective
One dances to decorous music
The other hardly moves at all
Noah Eli Gordon's latest book, The Year of the Rooster, is available from Ahsahta Press. He operates various levers behind Letter Machine Editions, The Volta, Subito Press, and CUBoulder’s MFA program.
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