The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan Read online

several bravura touches

  “marking time”

  treating it lightly

  The death of Max Jacob

  10. Henry IV

  naked

  with a lion

  a small lesbian

  smoking a pipe

  some silent young men

  “Shit!” they exclaim

  “Fuck all women!”

  They all start singing patriotic songs

  11. The Milk Bar

  Loud shouts and

  running feet on the staircase

  “Coward! Coward!”

  the death of Robert Desnos

  quite charming in a red and black dress

  with black shoes

  about three handbreadths high

  The salesgirl laughs at us

  12. Hate

  I turned back

  battered by the frightful air

  But I made a kind of wager with myself

  detail dazzled me

  I considered making it

  the theme of my next novel

  Every day I had experience of this

  13. American Films

  a blue-eyed little girl with brown pigtails

  their big red-tiled kitchen

  big platefuls of bilberries for dessert

  children’s laughter

  the fresh scent of wild berries

  that little brown-haired girl

  would be stood up against a wall

  on richer, fiercer colors

  ocher, red, purple

  14. Proust’s Sex Life

  it’s “splendid animalism”

  Ramon Fernandez made a special trip

  to see

  “Well,” I said, “have you seen it?”

  although I knew he was absolutely broke

  my chosen themes had not lost

  their sharpness

  Rusty Nails

  MY NAME

  Smiling with grace the mother, the spouse, leaned

  across to the fourth of their after-the-theatre party,

  who was a girl older than this boy, aged almost seventeen,

  by perhaps two years.

  THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

  I led in my childhood and youth the gently bred existence

  of my class and my kind.

  PATRIOTISM

  An estimated two million wasps were loosed on an area

  of four hundred and fifty miles inhabited by

  eighty thousand people.

  MY BEST FRIEND

  That was about you in my story.

  AN ORPHAN LEARNS TO COUNT

  The Police swooped down in a squad car.

  MALNUTRITION

  By accident I met some rich homosexuals of the international

  queer set who cruise around the world, bumping

  into each other in queer joints from New York to Cairo.

  CANCER

  For there was a heavy curtain over the window, and in the

  center of the room, an electric light bulb, suspended from

  the ceiling, was all wrapped in newspaper.

  SUNBURN

  Loading his gun with one of these buttons, he seated

  himself on the bed beside his wife, and declared his

  intention of shooting the witch cat.

  DEATH BY DROWNING

  For, in respect to the latter branch of the supposition,

  it should be considered that the most trifling variation

  of the facts of the two cases might give rise to the most

  important miscalculations, by diverting thoroughly the

  two courses of events; very much as, in arithmetic, an

  error which, in its own individuality, may be inappreciable,

  produces, at length, by dint of multiplication

  at all points of the process, a result enormously at

  variance with the truth.

  DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON

  She sighed in vain for the chaff and the wheat, not knowing

  the one from the other.

  MASSACRED BY THE INDIANS

  Ain’ nothin’ new about that neither.

  BAD NEWS

  The man in bed—staring at me appraisingly—was enormous.

  SPRING RETURNS

  We are drawn to shit because we are imperfect in our uses

  of the good.

  THE PENNILESS WINDOW

  He drew his wife’s attention to the pustule on the top

  of my skull for I had removed my hat out of courtesy.

  THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION

  There were seven to choose from, all putty.

  THE TERRORS OF PUBERTY

  She didn’t realize her belly was more provocative when

  it had been run through with hatred.

  A PROVERB

  Meanwhile the papers were reporting masochists shooting

  tacks, with rubber bands, at apes in zoos.

  A MESSAGE FROM THE LOVED ONE

  I was horrified.

  SYMBOLISM

  He must have pressed the wrong button, or several of them,

  for when the door fretted open he found himself deep underground,

  with no heart to try again.

  THE MODERN CRISIS

  “What’s this nasty piece of wood stuck in your boobs?”

  THE AFTERLIFE

  “The Cherry Orchard.”

  THE WORLD TODAY

  “Jungle Law,” the man agreed.

  DEADLY VISIBLE RAYS

  They had many days now when they were very happy.

  SOMETHING’S HAPPENING HERE

  Your historian will not attempt to list the sights he

  pointed out in the multitudinous halls since no one will

  ever forget them anyway.

  EIGHT SQUARES

  A good smell of hot coffee is coming out of the coffee-pot

  on the table.

  A GIFT

  “You in the new winter

  stretch forth your hands”

  I AM A MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW

  “I know from my own experience that telepathy is a fact.”

  LIFE OF A MAN

  Matinee

  Morning

  (ripped out of my mind again!)

  As Usual

  Take off your hat & coat & give me all your money

  I have to buy some pills & I’m flat broke

  On the Road Again

  FOR GIUSSEPPE UNGARETTI

  He called his Mama

  Mohammed Scee-ab

  He put his hand on

  Her rear to be funny

  She killed herself

  You can bet no one ever told

  His father

  He made love to Frances

  The talking mule

  He’s no sap either

  He chopped her head off

  So she can’t yell and

  He’s plumb vanished

  Let’s go with him to Naples

  To insult the old priest whose belly

  Bulges over his belly-button

  Like a piggy

  And at number 5 Subnormal Street

  We’ll see his sad Victrola

  You sap!

  If you aren’t turned on by now

  It’s your earache!

  Tonight

  Winds in the stratosphere

  Apologize to the malcontents

  Downstairs

  Joy of Shipwrecks

  The torpedo was friendly

  it buggered us

  Mayday!

  The climax came later

  In the water

  Near a sea-horse

  After Breakfast

  Flame & Fury

  The colt and the dolt became outlaws

  The automobile slew them

  December

  Brother and sister departed

  With apologies to the mother for intercourse

  In their hearts

  A Reply to the Fragile

  If he bites you he’s friendly<
br />
  If it hurts you

  Go away

  Don’t give him a fresh try

  Unless you have titties

  Like a fast horse

  Tobacco

  He made coffee

  In his maid’s uniform

  He made coffee with animals

  From the desert

  Who expectorated into the coffeepot

  His veins swelled up with an army

  Of germs whose unconscious’s

  Hated these possibilities

  He reared back saying, “Me Nasty!”

  So We began to BE Nasty

  As for what happened next

  You can bet that he learned to express himself

  Tooting My Horn on Duty

  Tooting my horn on duty in the infantry

  Made my name mud PU

  In the army I had nosebleeds

  The Infantry was so distracting

  It kindled up in my nose

  An invisible odor

  That hindered my toots

  One day while on duty

  I rammed into a chestnut

  And got blood all over my flute

  Not to mention this nosebleed

  I spat out so many teeth I knew it was an omen

  The vitamins I had to take made me ill

  Ten blood transfusions It was almost all over

  When two big rocks stopped the bleeding

  This was my unhappy childhood

  Corporal Pellegrini

  He was ugly

  She kissed the poor fellow

  On his belly

  ai-yai-yai

  Wild horses couldn’t hold him

  He snaked her carcass

  Around a finger

  Like a bowling ball

  Come and get it!

  They threw him in the pen

  And busted his illusions

  On the fires of Corregidor

  His rifle slowly

  Fired

  Better and better

  Killing the idiot

  Life Among the Woods

  Near Paris, there is a boat. Near this boat live the beautiful Woods.

  They are a charming family, the Woods, very friendly: Mr. Woods, Mrs. Woods, their son Peter, and their tiny daughter, Bubbles.

  Mr. Woods is very rich. He has a grand house, in four pieces: a kitchen, a stable, a room for lying down, and a room for infants. In this house there is, in addition, a brain room.

  Mr. Woods’ garden is also very grand. It is full of lettuces, flowers and fruits.

  Mrs. Woods likes cooking plenty. She makes pies, pots of tea, and desserts. The little Woods have beautiful appetites. They eat a lot.

  Mrs. Woods’ kitchen is very appropriate. It has a pretty little furnace, a table, four chaise lounges and a large placard. On the placard there are six S’s, six tassels, and fifty soupspoons. (One of the soupspoons is crusty.) There is also a grand casserole.

  In the room for laying down there are four tiny books, four chaise lounges and four tiny tables. One sometimes goes to the toilet on the tables.

  In the room for infants there is a big table, plenty of chaise lounges and one grand placard on which are pictures of the toys of the tiny Woods: a puppy, a train, a toupee, a cigarette, some balls, some books, a pellet, soap, a strangler’s cord, and lots of other things.

  The black bag and the wise man may be found in the brain room.

  They eat in the stable, where there is a grand table and some chaise lounges.

  Mrs. Woods’ rat poison is kept in the stable, in a great bottle.

  In her office she keeps plenty of other things. She keeps bread, berries, beer, lace, celery, buttons, plums, and a comforter.

  In Three Parts

  FOR JOHN GIORNO

  According

  to

  the

  basic

  law

  of

  visual

  perception

  any

  stimulus

  pattern

  tends

  to

  be

  seen

  in

  such

  a

  way

  that

  the

  resulting

  pattern

  is

  as

  simple

  as

  the

  given

  conditions

  permit.

  Before

  the

  orgasmic

  platform

  in

  the

  outer

  third

  of

  the

  vagina

  develops

  sufficiently

  to

  provide

  increased

  exteroceptive

  and

  proprioceptive

  stimulation

  for

  both

  sexes,

  the

  over-

  distended

  excitement-

  phase

  vagina

  gives

  many

  women

  the

  sensation

  that

  the

  fully

  erect

  penis

  is

  “lost

  in

  the

  vagina.”

  With

  daring

  and

  strength

  men

  like

  Pollock,

  deKooning

  Tobey,

  Rothko,

  Smith

  and

  Kline

  filled

  their

  work

  with

  the

  drama,

  anger,

  pain,

  and

  confusion

  of

  contemporary

  life.

  In 4 Parts

  A person can lie around on an uncrowded beach

  And when too much peace and quiet gets on his

  nerves, he can always get dressed and tour Israel.

  Mayor

  Frank

  X.

  Graves

  today

  ordered

  the

  arrest

  of

  Allen

  Ginsberg

  if

  the

  police

  could

  prove

  that

  the

  poet

  smoked

  marijuana

  while

  looking

  at

  the

  Passaic

  Falls

  yesterday.

  The

  Jewish

  Memorial

  Hospital’s

  Junior

  League

  will

  give

  its

  second

  annual

  discotheque

  benefit

  Sunday

  at

  the

  Round

  Table.

  William

  Carlos

  Williams

  the

  Paterson

  N. J.

  physician

  was

  a

  strong

  and

  vigorous

  poet

  who

  spoke

  in

  the

  American

  idiom.

  AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN 5 PARTS

  Craze Man Wiliiker

  FOR PIERRE REITER

  Once there was a rich man named craze man Wiliiker. This man was always very nice he would give alot of money to poor people, but he said to himselve “I had better save some of my money for
myselve.” So the next day he went to the bank with a gun (just in case they would not give him his money) he said “give me my money because I have to buy presents for all my relatives.”

  The next day he went to the Monkey Wards department store he bought a 24 foot yate, a motercycle, a small car, a byicycle, and meny more expencive gifts. Then he went to the store and bought a big airplane for himself then he loaded up his airplane and flew through the city tos money all over.

  The next day he had a pipeline put on the hot plains so people in distress could get water all through that area. He also built little shops into skyscrapers for the LandLord. He built hospitals all over the earth.

  One day while flying around in his airplane he ran accross two men trying to sell old pots, but they were not having any bissness. He landed and he asked them “Hows bissness?” The men replied “We’ve been here more than 40 days and haven’t sold a pot.” Wiliikers sayed “I’ll buy your whole stock and as meny more pots as you can get.” The man gave him his bill and supplyed him with his pots.

  Two days later he took his wife out to dinner and tiped the waiter a hundred dollarbill. He invited all the hobbos he knew to dinner and he even told the manager that he was going to give the biggest party the world has ever known and that it would be held on December 25. He sayed it would be adverticed all over the earth. When December 25 came all the men asked him why he was so nice to everybody he said “It’s because it’s Christmas day. Merry Christmas!

  from Memoirs

  Never will I forget that trip. The dead were so thick in spots we tumbled over them. There must have been at least 2000 of those sprawled bodies. I identified the insignia of six German divisions, some of their best. The stench was carnal to the point of suffocation. The sounds and cries of wounded men sounded everywhere. I could but think how wrong I’d been one bright day at Texas Military Academy when I had so glibly criticized Dante’s description of hell as too extreme.

  A flare suddenly lit up the scene for a fraction of a minute and we hit the dirt hard. There just ahead of us stood three Germans—a lieutenant pointing with outstretched arm, a sergeant crouched over a machine gun, a corporal feeding a bandolier of cartridges to the weapon. I held my breath waiting for the burst. But there was nothing. My guide shifted his poised grenade to the other hand and reached for his flashlight.

  The Germans had not moved. They were never to move. They were dead, all dead—the lieutenant with shrapnel through his heart, the sergeant with his belly blown into his back, the corporal with his spine where his head should have been. We left them there, gallant men dead in the service of their country.