The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan (42 page)

•  •  •

I was visited by the Scorpion, the Eagle, &

the dove . . . .

there

his red nose

& bare long legs

perfectly still

so rare

in a perfect

chair

his eyes

grew red

and full

& then she went away.

where?

his tiny

heart stopped.

And stopped again here.

I’m a piece of local architecture

built only because it had to be.

Sunlit

oblongs

Bramble

Transfer

Time of

Major energy product

highly reduced

for the sake

of maintaining scale.

So long, Jimi,

Janis, so long.

You both are great.

We love you.

But, O, my babies,

you did it wrong.

The Moon is Yellow.

My Nose is Red.

Bad Teeth

The Rose of Sharon

lights up

Grand Valley

Now

Robert Creeley speaks:

the air is getting

darker

and darker

the Rose of Sharon

moves

towards the door

and through.

TED BERRIGAN & ROBERT CREELEY

This

is as is

it goes

which does

as that was

that . . . or

over time & that

was, is,

that.     Check:   call it

WHAT
.

On St. Mark’s Place

She walked

with the aggressive dignity

of those

for whom someone else’s

irony

is the worst of disasters:

I loved her for it.

AFTER LEOPARDI

O love!

I have collected

a scar or two

& even a disturbing

memory or two

Since I fell for you.

FOR DONNA DENNIS

White powder

purple pill

pink pill

white powder

(2)

Blue air

white mist

blue/white sky

MARS

& it’s Autumn in the Northern hemisphere

there.

Come to Chicago

Go to the

Aspidistra Bookstore

Buy

THE LAST PURITAN
.

Stay with us.

TO TOM CLARK

Autobiography

Men at Arms

Brideshead Revisited

Evelyn Waugh

Get your ass in gear

Turn around.

Turn around.

Turn around.

Feel.

Suss.

Whine.

Shut up.

Turn on light.

Exercise.

Kill Dog.

Orange Black

BACK DEATH

Strategy is what you do how

Sitting Bull

The

opposite

of

petty

is

GRAND
.

The best way of

going all that way

to get something

and bring it back

is that way. This

is potent information,

that, a way to go, then.

get, in the complexity of our present

responsible element seething between

impasto excitation & somber, subtly evoked grandeur.

To

Lee & Mike.

I ride this bike

To your joy

For your little boy.

Discussing Max Beerbohm

with Mike Brownstein.

“I’m standing toe-to-toe with you, see, looking you right in the eye,

you see, and at the same time digging that you are tapping your left foot, but,

and also, at the very same time, understand, I am digging that an American

flag is coming out of your left ear.”

surface

Sometimes it is quiet throughout the night

And you learn in the morning that

The man in the next room

Died in his sleep.

But there is no shortage of applicants

For the room.

Kissed Maggie soundly; and the Doctor

declined to write me another prescription:

(if that “; and” meant what its weight does,

this would be       
ROMANCE
.)

It’s    difficult

for the young queer

poets these days.

They

have to be

as good as

John Ashbery

(sigh).

I’m glad we

Only have to be

like Allen Ginsberg!

(Cheers)

WANT

CAN

DO

Ladies & Gentlemen,

You will depart

The Aircraft

at the

Terminal Area

to your left.

Thank You for Flying United.

Today I had planned to fribble away

in “The Digger’s Game”

But Chemistry dictated that I lie on the bed

all day too fast to dig.

“All things considered, it’s a gentle & undemanding

planet, even here.”

I seldom know it.

I do remember consistently

to feed it.                 Snore.             In the air

in the house

in the night                         bear with me.

TO ALICE NOTLEY

She is always two blue eyes

She is never lost in sleep

All her dreams are light & air

They sometimes melt the sun

She makes me smile, or

She makes me cry, she

Makes me laugh, and I talk to her

With really nothing particularly to say.

It is important to keep old hat

in secret closet.

FOR JACK COLLOM

10 Things I do Every Day

play poker

drink beer

smoke pot

jack off

curse

BY THE WATERS OF MANHATTAN

flower

positive & negative

go home

read     lunch      poems

hunker down

changes

Life goes by

quite merrily

blue

NO HELP WANTED

Hunting For The Whale

“and if the weather plays me fair

I’m happy every day.”

The white that dries clear

the heart attack

the congressional medal of honor

A house in the country

NOT ENOUGH

Go

Get in Volkswagen

Ride to the Atlantic

Step out

See

Your shadows

On fog

At the second stop

The same ocean as

At the first

Back in Volkswagen

Ron’s or somebody’s

Backs up

Steps on the gas

COCA COLA
20 Cents

Machine noise

Satisfaction

Home

Away from home.

FOR LOU REED

1.

It’s A Fact

If you stroke a cat about 1,000,000 times, you will

generate enough electricity to light up the largest

American Flag in the world for about one minute.

2.

Turnabout

In former times people who committed adultery

got stoned;

Nowadays it’s just a crashing bringdown.

3.

A Mongolian Sausage

By definition: a long stocking: you fill it full of shit,

and then you punch holes in it. Then you swing it over

your head in circles until everybody goes home.

FOR JIM CARROLL, ON HIS BIRTHDAY

A lovely body gracefully is nodding

Out of a blue Buffalo

Monday morning

curls

softly rising color the air

it’s yellow

above the black plane

beneath a red tensor

I’ve been dreaming. The telephone kept ringing & ringing

Clear & direct, purposeful yet pleasant, still taking pleasure

in bringing the good news, a young man in horn-rims’ voice

is speaking

while I listen. Mr. Berrigan, he says, & without waiting for an answer

goes on,

I’m happy to be able to inform you that your request for a Guggenheim

Foundation Grant

Has been favorably received by the committee, & approved.

When would you like to leave?

Uh, not just yet, I said, uh, what exactly did I say with regards to leaving,

in my application . . . I’m a little hazy at the moment.

Yes. Your project, as outlined in your application for a grant for the

purpose

of giving Jim Carroll the best possible birthday present you could get

him, through our Foundation, actually left the project, that is,

how the monies

would be spent, up to us. You indicated, wisely, I think, that we knew

more about what kind of project we would approve than you did,

so we should

make one up for you, since all you wanted was money, to buy Jim a

birthday gift.

Aha! I said. So, what’s up?

We have arranged for you and Jim to spend a year in London, in a flat

off of King’s Row.

You will receive 250 pounds each a month expenses, all travel expenses

paid, & a clothing allowance of 25 pounds each per month.

During the year,

At your leisure, you might send us from time to time copies of your

London works. By year’s end I’m sure you each will have enough

new poems for two books,

Which we would then publish in a deluxe boxed hardcover edition, for

the rights to which we shall be prepared to pay a considerable

sum, as is your due.

We feel that this inspired project will most surely result in The first major

boxed set of works since Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn!

Innocents Abroad

in reverse, so to speak! We know your poems, yours & Jim’s, will tell it

like it is, & that is what we are desperate to know! So, when

would you like to leave?

Immediately, I shouted! & Jim! I called, Jim! Happy Birthday! Wake up!

FOR JAYNE NODLAND

Today I woke up

bright & early

Then I went back to sleep

I had a nice dream

which left me weak

so

I woke up again

dull, but still early.