[ { "title": "Success Comes To Cow Creek", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "I sit on the tracks,", "a hundred feet from", "earth, fifty from the", "water. Gerald is", "inching toward me", "as grim, slow, and", "determined as a", "season, because he", "has no trade and wants", "none. It's been nine months", "since I last listened", "to his fate, but I", "know what he will say:", "he's the fire hydrant", "of the underdog.", "", "When he reaches my", "point above the creek,", "he sits down without", "salutation, and", "spits profoundly out", "past the edge, and peeks", "for meaning in the", "ripple it brings. He", "scowls. He speaks: when you", "walk down any street", "you see nothing but", "coagulations", "of shit and vomit,", "and I'm sick of it.", "I suggest suicide;", "he prefers murder,", "and spits again for", "the sake of all the", "great devout losers.", "", "A conductor's horn", "concerto breaks the", "air, and we, two doomed", "pennies on the track,", "shove off and somersault", "like anesthetized", "fleas, ruffling the", "ideal locomotive", "poised on the water", "with our light, dry bodies.", "Gerald shouts", "terrifically as", "he sails downstream like", "a young man with a", "destination. I", "swim toward shore as", "fast as my boots will", "allow; as always,", "neglecting to drown." ], "linecount": "53" }, { "title": "Dream On", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "Some people go their whole lives", "without ever writing a single poem.", "Extraordinary people who don't hesitate", "to cut somebody's heart or skull open.", "They go to baseball games with the greatest of ease.", "and play a few rounds of golf as if it were nothing.", "These same people stroll into a church", "as if that were a natural part of life.", "Investing money is second nature to them.", "They contribute to political campaigns", "that have absolutely no poetry in them", "and promise none for the future.", "They sit around the dinner table at night", "and pretend as though nothing is missing.", "Their children get caught shoplifting at the mall", "and no one admits that it is poetry they are missing.", "The family dog howls all night,", "lonely and starving for more poetry in his life.", "Why is it so difficult for them to see", "that, without poetry, their lives are effluvial.", "Sure, they have their banquets, their celebrations,", "croquet, fox hunts, their sea shores and sunsets,", "their cocktails on the balcony, dog races,", "and all that kissing and hugging, and don't", "forget the good deeds, the charity work,", "nursing the baby squirrels all through the night,", "filling the birdfeeders all winter,", "helping the stranger change her tire.", "Still, there's that disagreeable exhalation", "from decaying matter, subtle but everpresent.", "They walk around erect like champions.", "They are smooth-spoken and witty.", "When alone, rare occasion, they stare", "into the mirror for hours, bewildered.", "There was something they meant to say, but didn't:", "\"And if we put the statue of the rhinoceros", "next to the tweezers, and walk around the room three times,", "learn to yodel, shave our heads, call", "our ancestors back from the dead--\"", "poetrywise it's still a bust, bankrupt.", "You haven't scribbled a syllable of it.", "You're a nowhere man misfiring", "the very essence of your life, flustering", "nothing from nothing and back again.", "The hereafter may not last all that long.", "Radiant childhood sweetheart,", "secret code of everlasting joy and sorrow,", "fanciful pen strokes beneath the eyelids:", "all day, all night meditation, knot of hope,", "kernel of desire, pure ordinariness of life", "seeking, through poetry, a benediction", "or a bed to lie down on, to connect, reveal,", "explore, to imbue meaning on the day's extravagant labor.", "And yet it's cruel to expect too much.", "It's a rare species of bird", "that refuses to be categorized.", "Its song is barely audible.", "It is like a dragonfly in a dream--", "here, then there, then here again,", "low-flying amber-wing darting upward", "then out of sight.", "And the dream has a pain in its heart", "the wonders of which are manifold,", "or so the story is told." ], "linecount": "64" }, { "title": "Head of a White Woman Winking", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "She has one good bumblebee", "which she leads about town", "on a leash of clover.", "It's as big as a Saint Bernard", "but also extremely fragile.", "People want to pet its long, shaggy coat.", "These would be mostly whirling dervishes", "out shopping for accessories.", "When Lily winks they understand everything,", "right down to the particle", "of a butterfly's wing lodged", "in her last good eye,", "so the situation is avoided,", "the potential for a cataclysm", "is narrowly averted,", "and the bumblebee lugs", "its little bundle of shaved nerves", "forward, on a mission", "from some sick, young godhead." ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "The Lost Pilot", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "for my father, 1922-1944", "", "Your face did not rot", "like the others--the co-pilot,", "for example, I saw him", "", "yesterday. His face is corn-", "mush: his wife and daughter,", "the poor ignorant people, stare", "", "as if he will compose soon.", "He was more wronged than Job.", "But your face did not rot", "", "like the others--it grew dark,", "and hard like ebony;", "the features progressed in their", "", "distinction. If I could cajole", "you to come back for an evening,", "down from your compulsive", "", "orbiting, I would touch you,", "read your face as Dallas,", "your hoodlum gunner, now,", "", "with the blistered eyes, reads", "his braille editions. I would", "touch your face as a disinterested", "", "scholar touches an original page.", "However frightening, I would", "discover you, and I would not", "", "turn you in; I would not make", "you face your wife, or Dallas,", "or the co-pilot, Jim. You", "", "could return to your crazy", "orbiting, and I would not try", "to fully understand what", "", "it means to you. All I know", "is this: when I see you,", "as I have seen you at least", "", "once every year of my life,", "spin across the wilds of the sky", "like a tiny, African god,", "", "I feel dead. I feel as if I were", "the residue of a stranger's life,", "that I should pursue you.", "", "My head cocked toward the sky,", "I cannot get off the ground,", "and, you, passing over again,", "", "fast, perfect, and unwilling", "to tell me that you are doing", "well, or that it was mistake", "", "that placed you in that world,", "and me in this; or that misfortune", "placed these worlds in us." ], "linecount": "49" }, { "title": "Happy As The Day Is Long", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "I take the long walk up the staircase to my secret room.", "Today's big news: they found Amelia Earhart's shoe, size 9.", "1992: Charlie Christian is bebopping at Minton's in 1941.", "Today, the Presidential primaries have failed us once again.", "We'll look for our excitement elsewhere, in the last snow", "that is falling, in tomorrow's Gospel Concert in Springfield.", "It's a good day to be a cat and just sleep.", "Or to read the Confessions of Saint Augustine.", "Jesus called the sons of Zebedee the Sons of Thunder.", "In my secret room, plans are hatched: we'll explore the Smoky Mountains.", "Then we'll walk along a beach: Hallelujah!", "(A letter was just delivered by Overnight Express--", "it contained nothing of importance, I slept through it.)", "(I guess I'm trying to be \"above the fray.\")", "The Russians, I know, have developed a language called \"Lincos\"", "designed for communicating with the inhabitants of other worlds.", "That's been a waste of time, not even a postcard.", "But then again, there are tree-climbing fish, called anabases.", "They climb the trees out of stupidity, or so it is said.", "Who am I to judge? I want to break out of here.", "A bee is not strong in geometry: it cannot tell", "a square from a triangle or a circle.", "The locker room of my skull is full of panting egrets.", "I'm saying that strictly for effect.", "In time I will heal, I know this, or I believe this.", "The contents and furnishings of my secret room will be labeled", "and organized so thoroughly it will be a little frightening.", "What I thought was infinite will turn out to be just a couple", "of odds and ends, a tiny miscellany, miniature stuff, fragments", "of novelties, of no great moment. But it will also be enough,", "maybe even more than enough, to suggest an immense ritual and tradition.", "And this makes me very happy." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "The Wrong Way Home", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "All night a door floated down the river.", "It tried to remember little incidents of pleasure", "from its former life, like the time the lovers", "leaned against it kissing for hours", "and whispering those famous words.", "Later, there were harsh words and a shoe", "was thrown and the door was slammed.", "Comings and goings by the thousands,", "the early mornings and late nights, years, years.", "O they've got big plans, they'll make a bundle.", "The door was an island that swayed in its sleep.", "The moon turned the doorknob just slightly,", "burned its fingers and ran,", "and still the door said nothing and slept.", "At least that's what they like to say,", "the little fishes and so on.", "Far away, a bell rang, and then a shot was fired." ], "linecount": "17" }, { "title": "Loyalty", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "This is the hardest part:", "When I came back to life", "I was a good family dog", "and not too friendly to strangers.", "I got a thirty-five dollar raise", "in salary, and through the pea-soup fogs", "I drove the General, and introduced him", "at rallies. I had a totalitarian approach", "and was a massive boost to his popularity.", "I did my best to reduce the number of people.", "The local bourgeoisie did not exist.", "One of them was a mystic", "and walked right over me", "as if I were a bed of hot coals.", "This is par for the course-", "I will be employing sundry golf metaphors", "henceforth, because a dog, best friend", "and chief advisor to the General, should.", "While dining with the General I said,", "\"Let's play the back nine in a sacred rage.", "Let's tee-off over the foredoomed community", "and putt ourselves thunderously, touching bottom.\"", "He drank it all in, rugged and dusky.", "I think I know what he was thinking.", "He held his automatic to my little head", "and recited a poem about my many weaknesses,", "for which I loved him so." ], "linecount": "27" }, { "title": "Goodtime Jesus", "author": "Edward Taylor", "lines": [ "Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dream-", "ing so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it?", "A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled", "back, skin falling off. But he wasn't afraid of that. It was a beau-", "tiful day. How 'bout some coffee? Don't mind if I do. Take a little", "ride on my donkey, I love that donkey. Hell, I love everybody." ], "linecount": "6" } ]