The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan Page 14
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.