11 November 2007

Savage Canticles

1
how many times
has yr intention
been toward here
but a detour
took you there

how many detours
have brought change
to the narratives
that become history

2
unwritten code
bludgeons pigeons
in that park
where squatters
squat

a nurse
shoots up
forsaking
footlight glamour

3
portfolio of malice
spiders into
every century
sans invitation
or strategy

lost pastry chef
discovers
physique model
trimming roses

4
dance in Manhattan
or die in Winnipeg
yr life cradles
crackers
broken by bandits

archive
each crumb
in redwood
coffins

3 comments:

Steve said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve said...

Wicked nifty, thrifty poem, poming, poetry, lines, Alex!

The second time through, the stanza, lines, second half of #3 really caught me. First, from "lost" and "discovers" simply in the abstract, then from the deeper sense that the pastry chef was "lost," feeling lost, until he "discovers" the "physique model." You probably won't tell us whether he's lost because he's lonely or he's lost because he, say, couldn't find the "roses" that he'd made for a certain cake, but I could easily read it either way.

Anywho, I surely enjoy the whole thing.

I like that the "portfolio of malice / spiders into / every century" sans "strategy," not just "invitation," and I suspect that that is why it "spiders" into, spiders and malice so often operating without clear strategy and all. Malice, no strategy...
Like that very much.

Canticles, Cantus, Cantos?

Alex Gildzen said...

you honor me Steve with such a careful reading.

thank you.