Saturday, May 1, 2010

When belief is breath

Marionettes of muscle man the sober lines,
jerked into shape by the loose smiles of change-
always a little rougher on the flannel edges,
despite the miles of back in the looking glass.

You never realize how heavy a severed leg can be
when the proud laughter of a cargo pants bulge
is used to grab your apt round-eyed attention
and ginger counterposes the citrus appeal of orange:
how deep will the toes reach to find a formal table?
There are corridor passions deeper than brushed nap
but no longing longer for the shagged distance runner.

You have to label everything or you cannot sleep at night:
the beer-can grin of satiny curbside pornography
with a train whistle mournful mise-en-scene,
the cute names that rise acidly from a fluffy tongue,
the imprint of a curtsy retained in dowdy aqua towels-
there is no longer a word for the abstraction of crunch.

The clay drawn literate has ceased to live,
has ceased to spit and snort and fuck-
an ominous maroon of maples etched in the breeze
says, in charming leaves, that you will die and soon.

Would you rather bend chrome time
or expand space to be molasses slow
or give wizened advice to the overheated
while balancing on a cane of boredom
and drumming flamacues with stucco thumbs
on rough beige walls until there's blood?

When belief is breath and breath alone,
observe that the ootid will surely last
beyond the four dimensions of your grasp:
no point in getting all strung up in knots,
there is actually nothing happening

in the end.




27 comments:

  1. so well done, Gerry. The cascade of impossible choices and the inevitabilities of a chain of consequences, interwoven with both brutal and elegant language.


    btw, like your new carnivalesque pic !

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  2. HOLY SHIT, Gerry Boyd! Holy shit! HOly shit!

    OK, this is fucken brilliant and exciting, "an ominous maroon of maples etched in the breeze
    says, in charming leaves, that you will die and soon." Ok, and maybe just a little sad, too.

    I like both the squirt of orange and the mouth heavy taste of ginger. Screw the rest!

    xo
    ha!
    erin

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  3. BRILLIANT OUTLOOK, EXCELLENT POEM, U HAVE A GREAT WAY WITH WORDS :)

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  4. Flipping through imagery like a slide show, lashes fluttering to keep pace. What a ride. Looking back, severed limbs...yes, yes, heavy they are...my blood in trails on stucco.

    Whew!

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  5. @Harlequin: Thx. I do wnat I can. Ha! Who knows, really?

    @WIAW: Glad you were PLEASED. xo

    @william: A little bit of me leaked out with this one.

    @Wine&Words: It's ALL about the ride, isn't it?

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  6. I like the energy a lot.

    And:

    "Would you rather bend chrome time
    or expand space to be molasses slow
    or give wizened advice to the overheated
    while balancing on a cane of boredom
    and drumming flamacues with stucco thumbs
    on rough beige walls until there's blood?"

    WOW! Awesome.

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  7. Another roller-coaster poem... it suspends... as if caught in The Matrix corridors. Fine stuff, Gerry :)

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  8. This is amazing! And I needed this: "no point in getting all strung up in knots"...
    Thank you :)

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  9. @The Scrybe: Nice to be able to deliver something somebody needs.

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  10. ...there you are, your poems remind me of some 19 century British wonderfully woven lyrics, language is just wonderful, and then... what...


    ...woven so beautifully...
    taken along
    with all those wealthy riches...

    to finally fall to dust
    OMG

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  11. @LadyArt: Yeah, I'm old school. They tried to modernize me, but it didn't take. Just in love with language, I suppose. Cheers! And thanks so much for stopping by. Much obliged, I'm sure.

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  12. Excellent execution of word-play. I read and re-read each time turning over another hidden phrase.

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  13. @Johnsie Noel: Cheers. I like to pack 'em in so the reader gets their money's worth. ;-)

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  14. Lieber Gerry,

    Ich bin Wieder total begeistert!!

    Herzlichst, Rachel

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  15. Gerry,
    This made me feel sad in the most wonderful way.
    Thank you.
    xoxo

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  16. @Rachel: Danke.

    @lesinfin: sadness has its own beauty, especially in the autumn. i do not run from it, regardless of the season, though.

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  17. I've read this a couple of times and need to read a few more, I think. There are new goodies enough to last a mighty lot of reads, I'm sure.
    Brilliant stuff. Dense and rewarding.

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  18. @Dave King: At these prices, it only seems fair to make them as dense as possible to provide the consumer with value. Your diligence is appreciated and I'm only glad you're getting some reward for the effort. Otherwise, my fears of being a tired old windbag might be realized. ;-)

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  19. Whew. I had to come up for air on this one!

    I particularly like "the imprint of a curtsy retained in dowdy aqua towels". Brilliant.

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  20. @willow: appreciate the perseverance. lot o' lines. lot o' lines. the avatar? yeah, i'm cool like dat. ha! little snapshot + GIMP filter. cheers and regards. signed, your average knucklehead

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  21. Gerry, when I was about to write my comment i realized that all the above followers have spoken also on my behalf..
    awesome post!

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  22. @Maria Garozi: Thanks for stopping by.

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  23. I like this very much. Wonderfully crafted and not something to "get" at first read.

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