Art Lesson 10

Integrity is fullness
in behavior and in the physical
No missing parts.

Like planetary orbit round the day star,
to be full is to be pregnant.

The Mona Lisa smiles.
caught by an agile, old inventor
as well, by a fly on the wall

viewers somewhere near
somewhere distant

Night Mares

The dreams we dream, we edit.
This poem I verse, I dreamt last night,
a dream of rampage spilling over,
the blood throbbing in my throat,
its scent indelible in nostril linings.

There came to me a wench, not seen in years.
Pregnant she came, proclaiming I fathered
the 13 year old fetus, she carries
Tomfoolery, even in dreams that is implausible.

She wails and pleads that I believe her,
argues her cause alternately as if it is before a jury.
Says its high time we wed, that I should step up to the plate.
Seems I heard that line before.

I don't know how in all these soap suds,
my best friend, Ralphy gets in the mix.
I haven't seen him in years, either.
Nevertheless, he too is getting on my case.

It occurs to me that Ralphy and Sophie
may have carnal knowledge of each other,
and are in cahoots to have me pay the tab.
I'm annoyed, can you blame me?

Words escalate to blows.
It should be a cinch for me to floor Ralphy,
except, that in the years I haven't seen him,
he's gotten an advanced degree in voodoo and kickboxing.

The New Yorican has me looking as if I've had a session
with 15 pit bulls, unleashed to bring me to repentance.
But what I lack in fighting skills
I makeup for by being 7th born,

So, I nail my best friend
with a knee to his sperm bank
and apply to his windpipe
a Vulcan thumb.

It's then that I awoke to a happy ending,
and pray to God that Ralph did to,
for who knows if what dreams may come
might be ascribed merely to indigestion.

Fossils and Mummies

I've traveled a grave distance
Three and a half hours by aeroplane
By ship, it would have taken weeks

Halfway to downtown from airport ---
a commotion, a "protest" explains the taxi driver,
camera crew and actors present,
including one dressed like Adolf Hitler

Event is live on internet
The issue --- highway in horrible shape
bridge falling apart, accidents everyday

Government ain't doing shit
Says Mr. Chavarria, "Expect long delays
when you return to the States."
No round trip I've booked.

I've come to the chaos of my native land to say goodbye.
To the lapping, licking flames of cremation,
I bequeath my life's recollections

Fossils and mummies keep theirs a little longer

Day Trip to Espinel

from highlands on curves,
pumping the brakes

down to the capital
rumbles the bus,
coughs at the roadside houses
diesel vapors and burps

to highlands across fields of pine, palm and bamboo
...the passengers gaze at their lives

time brings us recall
at 45 miles both ways
soon enough, we'll arrive in the terminal
two ladies have yapped the entire agenda

Beyond Telescopic

Like a bubble divides in two,
into two halves a point separates,
and from there begins a clockwise rotation
and a counter clock wise rotation
respectively.

The right point swings 180 degrees rightward.
The left point swings 180 degrees leftward.
On crossing paths,they travel upward
another 180 degrees,
meeting again at the apex.

There fusing, and once more dividing,
into four additional points dividing.
Thereafter, to the next power dividing,
and no longer rotating just circular
but also spherically rotating,

squaring over and over, into new dimensions
Is this not exquisitely procreative?
If only we could witness it,
we'd fly through the ceiling,
I'd betcha you.
















and the circular action is an in and out action as well ---
spherical that is, and subsequently, many times over squared
not just numerical value but in extra dimensions

Is this not high romance?
Is this not super nova orgasmic or what?

Soloway's Last Supper

Georgia and I were rehearsing Soloway's convoluted monologue,
not easy for Georgia, acting supposeldy as an ordinary housewife
and part time clerk at Dollar General.
Ben Soloway had been a homosexual and professed anarchist
before he put a gun to his mouth, last year.

While we rehearsed over and over the next take,
the Gupt Brothers dropped by. They're sleazy producers
of low budget Bollywood. Cynically, they queried;
"Involved in a Soloway Play, are you?
Lot's of luck, Donut. Surely, you'll need it."

I was not willing to hold my silence,
It might cast doubt into the minds of my actors,
I replied, "Not to worry, Gupta losers, Gupta twins.
"The Last Supper" is now securely a Mapovia property.
...Sound, camera, action.

I am not one to attempt to enlighten
those of faulty vision as to how one guy's bad luck
can be another fellow's good fortune.
I would do with the Last Supper
as damned well I pleased.

The Former Gardener of Loosmann Tabith

In the deep of an obscure grove
stood a metallic statue,
skeletal form of fish
standing on it's tail,
ten feet top to bottom
spine, ribs and fins,
rusted heavily.

Over the decades,
the work has sunk bit by bit
into the soft rich earth on which it rests.
At present, the pedestal is gone,
and the work is all but 5 feet buried,
which leads one to think, that at this rate
it will eventually be a bench on which to sit,

the skeletal head and teeth exposed.


that makes one wonder,
if at this rate of burial,
might not the work be reduced to a bench,
on which to sit on the skeleton's teeth?