Monday, January 16, 2012

3408. LASH OUT AT THE GENERALS

LASH OUT AT THE GENERALS
(Satori, the end of desire)
When it seems like nothing wants to work, like nothing
wants to go, I walk away and start backwards my rambly
trek. Along Tillary Street, buildings tarry and seem to wait -
great, arched legworks of bridge and cable, high in the air,
to be seen but only between other buildings  -  like some
sneaky, secret eye, ever-watchful and present. A distant
water vista beckons, but  -  it seems  -  only diners scurry
to and fro, Rive Cafe this, River Cafe that, and I am oh so
tired of all that I see. What use, this awesome life?
-
Beneath a sidewalk tree, I see a wine bottle, broken off
at the bottom, blunted, like a glass-weapon ready to throw
its shards aloft. It was not there yesterday, this I know  -  so
only to assume some drunken midnight reveler has thrown it
down, like so many other things. The one, black leather glove,
the woman's panties somehow hanging from a tree. What goes
on these drunken nights? Things I never see? It really does seem
that nothing wants to work, or, at the least, work as it should.
-
Brooklyn, all night, beneath those crazy awnings and the
barrel-fisted buildings beneath the two sublimes : bridges
on ahead, over-top, soaring and gorging where once the
ferries stopped and all their Whitman dotage ambled.
I know now I'll have nothing of it  -  this stupid, bloated,
modern day, the couch store with its leathers, the book
store soiled with its sex, the clothing that only fey watchmen
would ever wear. I pass on everything. I pass, and wonder
why I'm here: not for the momentary drizzle of this cold
and so disgusting rain. Not to seek some Hart Crane
blunder chasing men and all their gain. Remember,
as I've told you, I want for nothing, and never will.

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