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The Synthesizer in Rare Books and Music in the British Library

       The Synthesizer in     Rare Books and Music       in the British Library The sterness of his haircut and his face, Especially the cruelty in the height Of manly cheekbone, the studious place (Rare Books and Music Room, a lamp with light So harshly aimed at...

Baked Alaska

           Baked Alaska Our friendship is a strange confection, as Substantial, insubstantial as the best Things always are.  Its fragile surface has A lightness to it; a simple bride, dressed In satin, springs to mind (easily torn), And then beneath that shiny crust,...

The Dead Lie Stretched Out

Written during Choral Evensong, St. George’s Chapel,  in the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Europe. The Dead Lie Stretched Out .. The dead lie stretched out under stony lids, Some marble, others basalt, all set, carved To keep these bodies trapped.  Each...

Why Have Words?

           Why Have Words? Why have words when what we need to say can Be spoken by a groan?  The crucial things Are best expressed by moans.  Let’s pass a ban On verbs and nouns.  It’s wailing that has wings. The ululation of an agony Is eerier than threnodies with...

Becoming: Waking Up in the Thwarted Rêve

Becoming:  Waking Up in the Thwarted Rêve …………………. …………..See the gif at https://imgur.com/gallery/c0yTUmw When Tennessee became my age, his brain Began to dream in color.  Up till then The...

Oh, Fill my Veins with Sap of Curs!

Oh, Fill my Veins with Sap of Curs! …..“and filleth with the blood of weeds” Oh, fill my veins with sap of curs!  Distend My arteries with basest urges.  Bloat My heart with commonest of strengths and send From it the humble lusts of ram and goat, Those fed on...

Morning After Rains

          Morning After Rains They plant their roots for firmness in the earth. They do not think of death but plan for pods And seeds.  Their blueprints are for birth. They have a strong disdain for lightning rods, For what is living for except for heights? They...

Helen and Cousin David

       Helen and Cousin David Can you recall when “party” didn’t mean Cocaine and booze and sex?  When what it meant Was frilly frocks, and hitting red and green Piñatas with giddy sticks, when kids bent Near double, giggle-screaming, over “pin The tail”?  Can you...