faceless musings

fanciful stewpots keep on truckin’
yes, i’m sorry to say, the universe keeps shorting out and
facing those of us with faces with all kinds of hotch-potches
or whatyouwill, messes of horrifying pronouncements from some
sybilastic oracle.
that being said, when my face got left on the bus seat, afortneight
past, i stamped and screwed my neck into some kind of socket.
and here’s where i’m hoping that some jolt, some pearly jag
of inspiration will flood out to me old fingertips.
(might as well do something, while the face lingers on a bus-seat,
roving hither and far about the place, in a proscribed and
rhythmical fashion)
what strange new world will i see, when the face returns to me?
(and who knows what upon what strange sights my bodiless eyes
will alight, when slipping off the seat and sliding along that
greasy bussed floor? who knows what new sleights will fill my
brain when that face slots back into place?)
you might think i’m staggering about the place, with my eyes agone
from me, but, no. with some assistance from my floating mushroom
sense (all aboard the mushroom train! fetch a good price down ta
market!), i cavail and traipse around the town. the only thing
i’m missing, is that cracked schedule for the bus. i’m always
(not hearing) sensing that metallized contraption roaring past
in oil and in dust. (does my face

so separated from me

wince and mutter in distate at that frumy missing? or… is
it pale and flat? scouring all connection between us? or and
when my face–the key with which others unlock my deepest
heart?–is finally returned to me, will we like lovers greet?
or will we eye each others, down and back, like strangers
in the street?) without my eyes, i sense strange auras,
feel the gritty salt beneath my toes and wish the sea
would come back now, and o! i wish to taste the salty salty
sea! and smell that…

what small price to pay? and i wonder: has anyone found my
face, just lying there? or with a lurch of thought, might
they trade their face for mine? so when i finally stumble
up the hydroponic bus ramp (i mean, hydraulic) and shove my
crumbled dollar down that sticky ticket box, and shuffle my
slow and dancing way up the aisle seats, feeling those
curious eyeballs flow along beside me, glance, notlook, beside.
sitting down in some curved seat, feeling with my glowing
whorling fingertips a face aside of me. will i feel some
strange mustachio or perhaps some slimy lipstick coating lips
or ringed nose? will i feel betrayed by these strange
entrappings? or will i thrill to some new thing and
slide that changed face into place?

a fishy thing, an old doggerel to fetch a bone withal

whipping wild fish into fashion
while whispering sweet nuttings
into the lips of a crocus
there is a splendour lurking
in the bower eaves
don’t mistake it for
malice or shirking
partisan brimful with
arrogance and spite
(despite?) all these paragons
are wallowing in their own
fortitude drowning in their
own virtue beware the
sneaking suspicion that you
are right write down yr.
whiskered breaths upon
the windowpane cracked
though it is with spiderwebs
and time

discussing fine wine on
the backs of water-
starved fish dry ribs
heaving in the sun
por qua, my dour
cockle-shell? your
dainty bounties are
withering in the
wind wipe those
quiet tears from
off your back–we
have no room for excess
baggage (luggage?)

piecing together the
witnesses to all the
wilted gld in all the
windy treasure boxes
of the world
i’m sorry there’s nothing
more to say when
all the birds on earth
are dead try us
i might i cannot
summon up the
courage to face a
bird-free sky
parlor games charlatan
tricks soupcon of
a garrulous
medicine man
don’t drink the water

neither swim in it
nor bathe or dusk
your flanks in the
dusky dirt
but do wrap up your
sighs in boxes packed
away in livid orange
u-haul trucks store
them away all winter
but beware do not
raise the door too
quick mouldering
winterlong in dust
and shadow (darkness?)
deep secrets have
been growing
secrets deep enough & dark
enow to burst your heartstings

as you like the sparkling
dewdrop painted heaven
so the nighttime
revels dance their
stardust moonbeam
spirals in the
sea shore
once when i was
small & the seaside
shone with life and
bright odors of salt
and sea came bringing
all my sandy wishes
home scuttling crabs
and flopping fish have
become my seashore
friends

time was we’d had
some sorrows lodged
in mind but grief
resolved itself into
something not
quite known before
how to say it? what
in nightly dreams
has made its leave
within my mind
what name would
give this sweetness
breath? …
i don’t know, but
it is worthy to be
praised my word
what a boisterous
sleep i have

to be sure there is
no remedy for past
sorrow it remains
with me forever
i would not part
with my soft sorrow
for all the joy that
lies in world’s
store
unknown vapors crash
throughout these
neurochemicalogical
phantasies and madnesses
and self-made-self
which wanders mightily
questions questions
questions and all
my word-hoard lies
useless in its vault

a found transcription of a thing; also present, though handwritten marginalia: “key in a tree” and “Undset

That book list of mine…

So, I have gone through and made a preliminary pass through that list of those books I’ve read and put an asterisk next to those titles… well, that seemed to stand out to me. Basically, in a whimsical sort of way, I put an asterisk next to everything which I felt an impulse to note or something.

I wish I had more of a methodology to this, but I haven’t really come up with one yet.