Eric Greinke

 

Table of Contents

Biography

Current & Available Books In Print

Bibliography

Articles & Book Reviews By

Book Excerpts

Critical Comments

Articles & Interviews About                      

                                                                                                                                   

Book Ordering Information    

   

                                                             

                                                                                                                                       Top (l to r): Recent Photo; w/ Hugh Fox        

                                                                                                                                                                            Middle: Reading w/ Dave Cope; w/ Duane Locke & Ben Tibbs

                                                                                                                                                                                 Bottom: Recent Photo; w/ Jared Smith

Biography

Born, July 15, 1948, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Kelloggsville High School, Wyoming, Michigan, 1966. United States Coast Guard, 1966 through 1968. B.A. in English, Grand Valley State University, 1971. Editor and founder, GVSU national literary magazine Amaranthus, issues 1-7. Editor & Publisher, Pilot Press Books, 1971 through 1976. Fellowship, 1st National Poetry Festival, 1971. 1970's poetry workshops with Ted Berrigan, Paul Blackburn, Robert Bly, Gregory Corso, Robert Creeley, Allen Ginsberg, Jerome Rothenberg, Jackson MacLow and Philip Whalen, among others. Book reviewer, The Grand Rapids Sunday Press, 1971 through 1979. Creative writing teacher, Grand Rapids City High School, 1974-1975. Poets-In-The-Schools Program, Michigan Council for the Arts, 1975-1976. Assistant Manager, B. Dalton Booksellers, 1975 through 1979. B.A. in Psychology, Sociology Minor, Grand Valley State University, 1976. Social Worker at St. John's Home For Emotionally Disturbed Children, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1979. Social Worker, Riverview Residential Treatment Facilities, 1979 through 1990. M.S.W. in Clinical Social Work, Grand Valley State University, 1981. Certified Social Worker, State of Michigan, since 1981. Social Worker, Kent Client Services, 1990 through 1994. Master Angler Awards, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001 (2), 2002 (3), 2003 (3), 2004. Nominated for four Pushcart Prizes, 2006 (2), 2007 (2).  Member, Academy of American Poets.  He lives in a century-old cottage by a northern lake with his wife Roseanne and son Karl (16).  He also has an adult son, Kris, and daughter, Anna.

 

Current & Available Books In Print

Eric Greinke's books are available through Presa Press, PO Box 792, Rockford MI 49341 or presapress@aol.com. See Book Ordering Information for further details.

 

           WILD STRAWBERRIES (Presa Press, 2008, 96 pages, ISBN 978-0-9800081-1-1, Trade                             Paperback, $15.00 USA.)

Wild Strawberries collects fifty-nine new poems previously published in three dozen literary journals such as Backwards City Review, The California Quarterly, the Iconoclast, The New York Quarterly and The Pedestal, from 2005 to 2008. The book's central theme is man's relationship to time and the natural (and unnatural) world.  Greinke's poems are imagistic, thought-provoking and evocative.  He is a master of shifting moods and personae.  Includes the 180-line major poem For The Living Dead, which has been nominated by Muses Review as Best Poem of 2007 and also for a Pushcart Prize.

Click for Book Excerpt

 

 

Bibliography

- SAND & OTHER POEMS (Metamorphosis Press, 1971. 60 pages, Hardcover, 1000 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- CAGED ANGELS (Pilot Press Books, 1972. 64 pages, Trade Paperback, 1000 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- 10 MICHIGAN POETS (Pilot Press Books, 1972. 154 pages, Trade Paperback, 5000 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- THE LAST BALLET (Pilot Press Books, 1972. 72 pages, ISBN 0-88324-004-1. Trade Paperback, 500 copies, ISBN 0-88324-005-X. Hardcover, 500 copies, Both Out-of-Print.)

- IRON ROSE (Pilot Press Books, 1973. 48 pages, ISBN 0-88324-054-8. Hardcover, 1000 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- MASTERPIECE THEATER (With Brian Adam, Pilot Press Books, 1975. 64 pages, ISBN 0-88324-045-9. Trade Paperback, 500 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- THE BROKEN LOCK Selected Poems 1960-1975 (Pilot Press Books, 1975. 120 pages, ISBN 0-88324-057-2. Hardcover, 1000 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- THE BROKEN LOCK: New & Selected Poems (Pilot Press Books, 1976. 48 pages, ISBN 0-88324-058-0. Trade Paperback, 1000 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- WHOLE SELF / WHOLE WORLD Quality of Life in the 21st Century (Presa Press, 2004. 120 pages, ISBN 0-9740868-3-5. Hardcover.  1000 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- SEA DOG A Coast Guard Memoir (Presa Press, 2004. 180 pages, ISBN 0-9740868-6-.X Hardcover, ISBN 0-9740868-5-1. Trade Paperback.)

- SELECTED POEMS 1972 - 2005 (Presa Press, 2005. 140 pages, ISBN 0-9740868-8-6. Hardcover, ISBN 0-9740868-7-8. Trade Paperback.)

- THE ART OF NATURAL FISHING (Presa Press, 2003. 96 pages, ISBN 0-9740868-0-0. Hardcover. 1000 copies.   ISBN 0-9772524-6-.9 Trade Paperback.)

- THE DRUNKEN BOAT & OTHER POEMS FROM THE FRENCH OF ARTHUR RIMBAUD (Presa Press, 2007. 108 pages, ISBN 978-0-9772524-7-3.   Bilingual  edition.Trade Paperback.)                                                                                                              

-WILD STRAWBERRIES (Presa Press, 2008. 96 pages, ISBN 978-0-9800081-1-1.Trade Paperback.)

Chapbooks

- EARTH SONGS (Metamorphosis Press. 1970. 40 pages. 500 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- CANARY WINE (Metamorphosis Press. 1970. 28 pages. 500 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- MILK RUN & OTHER POEMS (Metamorphosis Press. 1971. 28 pages. 500 Copies. Out-of-Print.)

- THE POEM AS CHILD - An Essay (World Of Young Writers. 1971. 12 pages. 100 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- ROSES (Joie Editions. 1973. 16 pages. 100 numbered copies. Out-of-Print.)

- ICE (Joie Editions. 1973. 16 pages. 100 numbered copies. Out-of-Print.)

- THE CYMBAL CRASHES - Poem & Notes (Pilot Press Books. 1973. 16 pages. 500 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS (with Ronnie M. Lane. Free Books, Inc. 1974. 28 pages. 500 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- BLACK MILK - Ghazal Sequences (Free Books, Inc. 1974. 16 pages. 500 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- FOR YOU (Pilot Press Books. 1974. 24 pages. 100 numbered copies. Out-of-Print.)

- THE DRUNKEN BOAT & OTHER POEMS FROM THE FRENCH OF ARTHUR RIMBAUD (Free Books Inc., 1975, First Edition, 500 copies, 1976, Second Edition, 500 copies. 36 pages, Third Edition, 500 copies, 48 pages, Presa Press, 2005.)

- SOME TREES - Highly Selected Poems (Privately Printed. 1976. 8 pages. 100 copies. Out-of-Print.)

- MEMORY - Selected Poems 1994 (Privately Printed. 1994. 36 pages. 123 signed & numbered copies. Out-of-Print.)

- A SYMBOLIST MANIFESTO - With An Annotation by Duane Locke (Privately Printed. 2005. 12 pages.)

- UP NORTH (With Harry Smith.  Presa Press. 2006. 40 pages.)

- FOR THE LIVING DEAD  (Free Books, Inc. 2007. 28 pages.)

- GET IT  (With Mark Sonnenfeld.  Marymark Press. 2007. 20 pages.)

Poetry Magazines & Anthologies

Eric Greinke's work has appeared or been accepted for publication in the following literary magazines & anthologies to date . For any omissions to this list, our apologies.

Abbey, Air, The Alcaeus Review, Amaranthus, Backwards City Review, Barbaric Yawp, Bathtub Gin, Beatlick News, Big Scream, Bitterroot, Bogg, Brown Penny Review, California Quarterly, The Cape Rock Journal, The Cedar Rock Quarterly, Cloven Hoof, Creative Moment, The Detroit Free Press, Display, Drama Garden, Emphasis, Essence, Fly By Night, For The Time Being, Free Lance, Free Verse, The Goodly Co., The Grand Rapids News, Grand Valley Today, Great Art, Happiness Holding Tank, HazMat, Home Planet News, The Hurricane Review, Ibbetson Street, Iconoclast, Illogical Muse, King James Version, The Lanthorn, Lazarus, Main Channel Voices,The Margarine-Maypole Orangoutang Express, Magazine Six, Metamorphosis, Midnight, Muses Review, Napalm Health Spa Report, New Dimensions, The New York Quarterly, Once Again, Out Of Sight, The Pedestal Magazine, Pegasus, Poetry Americana, PoetsWest, Presa, The Roadrunner Haiku Journal, The Root, The Small Press Review, Solo Cafe, Stone Drum, Tar Wolf Review, Tertulia, Under The Banana Tree (League of Laboring Poets), The United Co-Operative, The University of Tampa Review, The Unrorean, Wavelength, WestWard Quarterly, Wilderness House Literary Review, Wild Goose Poetry Review, The Wild Plum Review, Wild Violet, The Woodsrunner & Words Of Wisdom..

Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry (Maurice Custodio, editor, Peace and Pieces Press, San Francisco, CA,1972), Being '71 (Cor Barendrecht, editor, Being Press, Grand Rapids, MI,1971), Best Of Four (Walter Lockwood, editor, Dyer-Ives, Grand Rapids, MI,1971), For Neruda / For Chile (Walter Lowenfels, editor, Beacon Press, Boston, MA,1975), Inside The Outside: An Anthology Of Avant-Garde American Poets (Roseanne Ritzema, editor, Presa Press, Rockford, MI, 2006), Mantras (Alan Britt, editor, Floating Hair Press, Tampa, FL,1973), Michigan Hot Apples (Gay Rubin, editor, Hot Apples Press, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 1972), Michigan Hot Apples 2 (Gay Rubin, editor, Hot Apples Press, Bloomfield Hills, MI,1973), 10 Michigan Poets (Eric Greinke, editor, Pilot Press Books, Grand Rapids, MI,1972), Midwest Poetry 1972 (Roy Burrows, editor, Burro Books, El Dorado, AK,1972), Themes 2003 (Brigitta Getrich, editor, Creative With Words, Carmel, CA, 2003), The Vagaries Of Invention (Donald Isaacson & Helen Sheridan, editors, Sidewinder Press, Kalamazoo, MI, 1982), Wilderness House Literary Review Volume 1 (Gloria Mindock, editor, ISCS Press, Littleton, MA, 2007.)

 

Articles & Book Reviews by

Book Reviews

Eric Greinke's Book Reviews for The Grand Rapids Press, 1972-1980

Speech Acts & Happenings by Robert Vas Dias, April 2, 1972, Tuesday Morning Rain Wednesday Morning Love & Thursday Morning by D.E. Stewart, May 14, 1972, A Caterpillar Anthology edited by Clayton Eshleman, May 28, 1972, Shaking the Pumpkin edited by Jerome Rothenberg, June 25, 1972, Smudging by Diane Wakoski, July 23, 1972, Logan Stone by D.M. Thomas, July 30, 1972, The Whispering Wind edited by Terry Allen, August 6, 1972, Mocking-Bird Wish Me Luck by Charles Bukowski, August 20, 1972, The Plentitude We Cry For by Sarah Appleton, September 3, 1972, Poems for Three Decades by Richmond Lattimore, September 17, 1972, Moving by Tom Raworth, October 1, 1972, The Blue Cat by F.D. Reeve, October 15, 1972, The Providings by Carl Thayler, The Revenant by Dan Gerber, Xeme by Rebecca Newth, Accidental Center by Michael Heller, Midwatch by Keith Wilson, October 29, 1972, Helmet of the Wind by Nancy Cardozo, November 26, 1972, A Day Book by Robert Creeley, January 7, 1973, My House by Nikki Glovanni, January 28, 1973, John's Heart by Tom Clark, May 6, 1973, New Work by Joe Brainard, December 16, 1973, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol by Andy Warhol, September 21, 1975, Your Erroneous Zones by Dr. Wayne Dyer, Looking Out for No. 1 by Robert Ringer, March 12, 1978, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander, April 9, 1978, Links by Charles Panati, April 16, 1978, Money Madness: the Psychology of Saving, Spending, Loving and Hating Money by Herb Goldberg and Robert T. Lewis, May 14, 1978, The Psychological Society by Martin L. Gross, June 18, 1978, Catastrophe Theory by Alexander Woodcock and Monte Davis, September 17, 1978, Freud: The Psychoanalytic Adventure by Robert Ariel, October 22, 1978, Person/Planet by Theodore Roszak, December 24, 1978, The Tolkien Scrapbook edited by Alida Becker, December 31, 1978, A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins, February 11, 1979, Weather Language by Julius Fast, April 1, 1979, The Man Who Rode His 10-Speed Bicycle to the Moon by Bernard Fischman, April 22, 1979, Giant Steps by Barry Neil Kaufman, May 6, 1979, Pathway to Ecstasy: The Way of the Dream Mandala by Patricia Garfield, June 17, 1979, Jem by Frederik Pohl, July 29, 1979, The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck, October 21, 1979

 

Other Book Reviews

Dream-Work by Kirby Congdon, Spring 1972 in Amaranthus 6, The Yellow Room by Donald Hall, Spring 1972 in Amaranthus 6, Sleepers Joining Hands by Robert Bly, 1973 in Poetry Americana, The Winged Energy of Delight: Selected Translations by Robert Bly, 2005 in Presa, Another Woman Who Looks Like Me by Lyn Lifshin, 2006 in Presa, Hence This Cradle by Helene Sanguinetti, translated from the French by Anne Cefola, 2007 inThe Pedestal Magazine, They by Spiel, 2007 in Presa, Where Images Become Imbued With Time by Jared Smith, 2007 in Bogg, Summer with All its Clothes off  by Art Beck, 2008 in Presa, Inrue by Guy Beining, 2008 in Presa, Outside The End  by Guy Beining, 2008 in Presa, Living Proof  by Mary Bonina, 2008 in Presa, Still Life  by Alan Catlin, 2008 in Presa, Among Us by Harris Gardner, 2008 in Presa, Illegal Border Crosser  by Michael Graves, 2008 in Presa, Vanishing Points by Gayle Elen Harvey, 2008 in Presa, Blue Ribbons at the County Fair  by Ellaraine Lockie, 2008 in Presa, Inrue  by Guy Beining, 2008 in Presa, the ristorante godot by Gerald Locklin, 2008 in Presa, Wedlock Sunday and Other Poems by Gerald Locklin, 2008 in Presa, Think  by Mark Sonnenfeld, 2008 in Presa, london nov 6-nov 11 by Mark Sonnenfeld, 2008 in Presa.

Articles

“Nerve Gas On Campus”, Lanthorn, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, 1971.

“The Poem As Child”, World of Young Writers, Hamilton, Ontario, 1971.

“A Response To The Charge That Poetry Is Difficult”, Amaranthus, Volume 1, No. 3. Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, 1971,

“Guaranteed Loans Not Guaranteed”, Lanthorn, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, 1972.

“A Symbolist Manifesto”, Amaranthus, No. 7, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, 1972.

“Teaching Poetry At City School”, Glory, Volume 5, No. 10. Grand Rapids, Michigan, September, 1975.

“Today’s Teen-agers Are More Troubled”, The Grand Rapids Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 27, 1999.

“Stop Rationalizing Impact on Environment”, The Rockford Squire, Rockford, Michigan, February 7, 2002.

Introduction to Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau. Presa Press, Rockford, Michigan, 2003.

“Accessibility & Quality In Poetry”, Presa, Number 2, Winter, 2006.

“Mark Sonnenfeld: Enigma”, Presa, Number 3, Summer, 2006. reprinted in Drama Garden (New Creatures Press, Bridgeport, CT, 2006.)

“Explication of 'Life”, Magazine Six, Cycle Press, Key West, FL, 2006.

Introduction to Opening The Door To French Film by Hugh Fox. World Audience, New York, 2007.

“Donald Hall:  A Small Press Perspective”, Home Planet News, New York, NY, 2007.

“Toward A New Eclecticism”, Presa, Number 7, Spring, 2008.

 


 

   

      Eric Greinke signing books at GVSU.                         

      Photo by Adam Bird (Grand Valley Magazine,2008)

 

 

 

 

 

Book Excerpts

from WILD STRAWBERRIES

Muses Review Best Poem of Year 2007 Award Winner.

FOR THE LIVING DEAD

                         

1.
I rise with an effort
I feel the dead
They vibrate
In my foggy heart
Like icebergs colliding
In oceans of blood

I am alone
I sit by my window
I become a stone
Like stagnant water
Or steady drumming

I was once a prisoner too  

                                      
I hear again
The familiar beat
Inside my heart
The divine rhythm
Of the countless dead
The rainstorms of light


2.
The zombies are revolting
They are crude in their culinary habits
Eating the flesh of the living
Raw with no seasoning
Duly elected representatives
With secret term limits

Sound the alarm
The flesh-eaters are in the house
They are slow but they keep on coming
They are mesmerized by fireworks
They like to run amok
When they aren’t milling aimlessly

Zombies have no sex lives
They share the despair of the wolfman
Drunk on power under the full moon
Soaked in gasoline waiting for a light
Enflamed by love & hate
Counting down to the final insult


3.
A cipher falls dead in the snow
From a bus of discontinued androids
Last year’s models obsolete versions
Of absolute ideals polished
To insane shines that reflect
The light that cannot be silenced

Jolly gunshots wound our pride
Armies of pleasure reap
Rewards of perfect cartoon murders
Buddhas smithereened by friendly fire
Floating in rivers of polite bodies
Joyfully waving their black flags

They are the human furniture
They are the living dishrags
They are the constant reminders
They are the ruined fortresses
Engorged on cloned flesh
Fitted with artificial hearts


4.
In the post-apocalyptic world
The zombies are loosely organized
With no zombie leader
They wander in random abandon
Trying to play various musical instruments
But their rhythm is shot

A small group of human survivors
Still comb their hair & wear make-up
Drooling & shuffling their feet
The zombies are mystified
By the smallest most subtle stimuli
But their haunted bony faces never smile

In the land of the dead
If a zombie bites you
You become a zombie too
You become a soldier in the zombie army
Sharing a goal with no sense of purpose
With an inner drive to obey


5.
The red bird still sings
In the green earth tree
In the airtight shopping mall
In the fenced-off arena
In shadows of tall buildings
In shacks of toothpicks

Robots built by zombies
Then put in charge
The doors are all locked
Impervious to your meat cleavers
Oblivious to your howls of pain
Ungrateful for your sacrifices

We navigate by dead reckoning
Our options are greatly reduced
We search in vain for a way out
Disguised by decadent cosmetics
The sentries at the gate are drunk
When the invasion comes they will die


6.
What can we do
What do we know
We who are barely human
We who have broken the 7th seal
We who have left the gate open
We who have stolen the Golden Fleece

Now the ghosts swallow us
We sullenly celebrate their loss
Our eyes opened wide as greed
Our diamonds soaked in blood
The coldest heads prevail
To organize the slaughter

Where have we been
What have we done
We mounted the final burial mound
We heard again the ancient last rites
We cloned sheep by the herd
We unleashed the living dead


7.
The robots are in formation
Speaking in unison
They all have the same face
Humorously humorless
They bow & scrape
Without relish or anguish

Robot malfunctions
Are inconvenient
Animated by artificial energy
Their movements are spooky
Unaware of planned obsolescence
Or constant surveillance

They make good household servants
They make good food service workers
They don’t mind piece-work
Efficient & cost effective
Prison guards, they
Know no fear


8.
They don’t need names
They don’t have dreams
They don’t throw temper tantrums
They’re not ticklish
They don’t itch much
They never need vacations

They don’t get pregnant
They don’t get drunk
They don’t smoke
They don’t eat or shit
They know not art
They hardly ever fart

A robot may be decommissioned
When a better model is developed
Many of the latest prototypes
Are biodegradable
They utilize virtual fibers
To simulate the naturally organic


9.
The severed head of Orpheus screams
Among the ashes of ancestors
Among the names carved into stone
In secret caves & hidden places
In tedious epics of doomed voyages
To the edge of the world

Organic life is prone to rot
Wooden puppets become brittle
Formaldehyde replaces blood
When the machine rules
Over the maker of machines
Which ones are the tools

Ghost lost before the body
Toy soldier left out in the rain
Hollow & impervious to pain
The pounding of robot feet
Grows louder by the parameter
Drowning out the earths heart


10.
I feel the spirits of the dead
They explode like seedpods
A thousand downy spheres
Doors that won’t stay closed
Locks meant to be broken
Dandelions born in the wind

Beats of light drummed by spirits
Into the pulsating heart of sound
Into the unsanctified dirt
Out to the edges of space
Through the wounded waters
Beyond the toxic pain of time

I hear the call of light
Through the mechanical darkness
Through the marching shadows
Through the neutral rocks
The stale bread that feeds
The dreams of the anemic world

 

LEELANAU FIRE

The night is white.
The moon, a cosmic smile.
Big wind frightens a fawn.
A branch falls, an alarm.

For awhile, I remember
Pictures across the river,
A life boat in the snow,
Radio squawking at the stars.

Now images are gone.
Mind empty, I’m alone.
Right here, by the smoke
Of the glowing embers,

Camping on the edge
Of the open sky.

 

GARMENT

Light emanates from my coat
My coat that contains
A shining stream
My coat of fool’s gold
Wiser than the stars
Singing in its pockets
Imprisoned by the fragrance
Of the rosy clouds
Like the dark heart
Hidden in a bright cave
Hidden in infinity
So far out in the open
That little fish
Swim through its fabric

 

DESIRE

1: SKIN CANALS
Snakes fly toward the sun
Elements form a grammar

Spherical bodies rotate in space
Hollow noise of surf is heard

A game of hide & seek began
Round stones rose from sand

A stranger ran, hammer in hand
Against the mountains of the sun

A connection between snakes & men
A legend in the tiny islands


2: AFTER THE ROBBERY
Searchers return, bereft
Armed in suits of platinum

Even if the coffins were illusions
War broke out among the ruins

A crocodile lost its way
East or west to a fixed position

The stranger came again to play
Available in this space age

Refugees, constricted, extricate
In inexplicable picturesque epics


3: MAD MOUNTAINS
Solid stone broke the diamond saw
An iridescent surface had been formed

Departure gyrated a gentle beat
Teenagers brought the fresh roots

Without warning, there’s the ruins
You find no steps, nor stairs

Consorted shapes were formed
Four balls dangled like musical notes

Gas sends out a beam of light
Sure to appear as simple ornamentation

 


PARADOX OF INTERSECTIONS


Every other busy intersection
Reveals a single dusty shoe
Or a flattened single glove

Their mates are gone
Though little movies come along
Flashing images of a conjured past

Later the shoes run away
& the gloves wave goodbye
Until the inevitable intersection passes

Littered with lost kisses & near misses

 

 

from THE DRUNKEN BOAT & Other Poems From The French Of Arthur Rimbaud

THE DRUNKEN BOAT

    As I flew down the raving river,

    Free at last of the boatman's hands

    That nailed themselves to my mast,

    That forced me into Indian waters,

    I did not miss the stinking crew -

    Those pawns of English grain & cotton -

    They ran along behind me now,

    & the river let me freely flow.

    In the roar & whipping of the tide,

    I, through that snow, like a child's mind

    Rode! & free floating driftwood

    Has not known the triumph I have known.

    Tempests blessed my mornings on the sea;

    I danced on waves as light as foam;

    Giant rollers flashed eternal souls,

    & at night, I did not miss the lantern's eyes.

    As sour apples are sweet to boys,

    The green sea penetrated all my seams,

    & wine & vomit washed away,

    Along with tiller & chains.

    Since then I've been bathing in the poem

    Of the star-encrusted milky sea,

    Drinking in the azure greens, where, pale

    & dreaming, a pensive corpse sometimes drifts by;

    & where, abruptly blue, delirious & languid

    In the burning day, the rhythms of the sun,

    Stronger than alcohol, more vast than song,

    Churn in the beaming reds of love!

    I've known the skies of light, & waterspouts & waves;

    I've known the dark before the rising wings of day;

    & sometimes in the twilight I have seen

    What other men have only dreamed they've seen!

    I've seen the sun descend, strange with mystic signs,

    Flashing violet arms like an actor

    In an antique tragedy,

    Tonal waters escaping in simmering mists.

    I've seen green nights & frozen scenes,

    Kisses melted on the eyelids of the sea,

    Ancient memories bleeding in a stream

    Of golden mornings & blue, florescent songs!

    I've endured for years the beating surfs,

    Mad as crazy cattle leaping for the reefs;

    I do not think that Mary's luminous feet

    Could still the muzzle of the growling sea!

    I've fondled lovely peninsulas,

    Mixing flowers with human skin & panther eyes!

    Rainbows stretched like endless bridal chains

    Beneath the surface of the crowded waves.

    I've seen enormous nets, & marshes

    Where giants rot amid the reeds;

    The sudden splash of white-caps in a calm,

    & towering canyons of distant mist.

    Glaciers, silver suns, flaming skies, pearl depths!

    Hideous wrecks beneath dusty gulfs,

    Where a giant parasitic serpent falls

    From a twisted tree, reeking black perfume!

    I'll reveal these visions to the children!

    These blue surfaces, golden fishes, singing fishes!

    The flowering foam has blessed my ride,

    & dauntless winds have let me fly!

    Sometimes, martyred & weary of zones,

    The sea would roll me on her gentle breasts,

    & lift me to her shadowed, yellow knee,

    & I would sleep upon her lap, then, womanly.

    I've sailed the isles, my decks awash

    With blood & waste of pale-eyed gulls,

    & drifting past my fragile eyes

    The sleeping moonbeams fell behind.

    I've floated lost amid the cove's hair,

    Thrown aloft by storms to where

    There are no birds; I could not save the battleships,

    My body drunk & bloated there.

    Freely fuming, mounted by a purple mist,

    I've pierced the deep red wall of clouds

    With imagery, my poet's runes:

    The lichens of the sun & azure tongues.

    Spotted with electric crescent moons,

    I've danced along a maddened plank,

    As spiral hammers clanged against

    The slowly burning, sea-blue heavens.

    I've trembled, felt Behemoth's spine,

    & heard the groaning of the storms;

    I've seen the ancient horror films,

    & wished for safe, European walls!

    I've seen the islands in space! Islands

    Opening windows for the wanderer;

    Do you sleep in a night so exiled & deep,

    Infinite golden bird, my future Lord?

    It's true, I weep too much!  Dawn breaks my heart!

    Moons are cruel & suns are bitter,

    When you have been drunk with love's sad water.

    O, let my keel break! O, let me bleed into the sea!

    If ever I shall return, it will be to the pond,

    Where once, cold & black, toward perfumed evening,

    A child on his knees set sail

    A leaf as frail as a May butterfly.

    I cannot, bathed in your languors, O waves,

    Follow the cotton carrier's wake,

    Nor salute the bridges of pride & flags,

    Nor pass the prison's hulking, horrid shape!

from SELECTED POEMS 1972-2005

MEMORY

 

MORNING

TALENT

SOON

NIGHT WATCH

 

THE STORM

 


THE RAIN


THE BROKEN LOCK

 

CARNIVAL RAIL

 

WHAT TO DO NEXT