Tuesday, August 28, 2007

for the sake of the sound

for the sake of the skunk. in the shape of the thunk. for the sake of the thunk. chunk chunk. for the sake of the thunk of chunks of kathunk. bedunk the gunk. for the sake of the thunk for the sake of kachunk kachunk kathunk for the sake of the sound of the striped devil called the ornery skunk for the sake for the sound. for the sake of the skunk. for the thunk of the hunk of plunk. for the strunk of the monk. for the sake of the sound. the thunk, the voluminous thunking thwacking & tapping & tippeta-rapping for the sake of the sound. best listen in on the outward blooming machinery. for the sake of the speed of the sound which we wish to hear a loud sound. louder than evry holler. louder than louder. for the sake of the sound. the motion of filling another line or page & pursuing another ding across the margins of time carriage of time and frenetic movement and all these ideas calling out and over upon each other. these thoughts pursue. it's definite for the sake of the sound. any really will suffice. though there is the aesthetic reckoning. do i enjoy it? because i enjoy some things who are unlistenable but other things much more appreciated i can't abide. but to try is something right? forth & for'ard. this'n was for the sake of the sound. the sound of the thunk. the sunk of the monk. the bunk of the chunk. for the sake of the sound. for the sake of the shake. for the shake of the sound the shake of the sake of the sound. the sound of the lost and the sound to be found in mounds of thick thunk and clinkclunk. the guts in the cut. the sake of the sound. thinkthunk clinkclunk. for the sake of the sound. for the make of the mound. the sound of the mound. the moan of the crown. the moan of the mound the sound of the mound. the quake of the sake. or the sake of the sound. the motion of the count... the account of the words of the weird found in a dark box. for the sake of the sound. the sought of the wrought. for the sake of the squeak. for the real of the squeal. for the screech of the scream for the sake of the mound for the sound of the mound for sounds come from the mound. for the moan of the mound. the scrapes and screams. for the sake of the rake of the sake of the sound for the sake of the ground below the mound. for the sound of the mound. for the sake of the sound of the mound. fro the competition. for the restitution. for the imposition. for the rumination. for the sake of the sound. for the real of the deal. for the sake of the squeal of the real. for the sake of the sound of the thunk of the skunk. for the sake of the sound. for the age of the page and the wage of the mage. for the magic of the tragic. for the fool. for the sake of the sound. for the sound of the mound. for the sake of the sound. for the sake of me. for the sound of the ground growling below. for the sake of the deep growl. for the depth of the sound. sure sound for the sake of the mound. for the sound of the mound the quiver and slurp. for the sake of the sound of her mound. for the sake of the sound. for the mound of sound. moundsounds. for the sake of the sound bellsounds. moundsounds. bellsounds. for the sake of the ground below the sound you hear. for the make of the now sound from what's that sound? for the sake of the question. for the asking's sake. for the sake of the sound of the mound. for the mound. for digits or ribbons o glowing pink orbs. for the sake of the sound of the mound. for the sound of the mound. for the sake of waking pleasures. for the sake of the sound of the mound. for the mound. for the thunk of the chunk. for the hunk of the monk. for the sake of the sound. for the light of the lantern. for the sound of the mound ground into the sake of the sound. for the sake of the sound ground into the mound. for the sake of the found. for the sound of the astounding hurtling mound. for the sake of the confusion. for the confusion of the sound. for the sound. for the sake of the for the sake. for the sake of the sound around the mound. sound surrounds the mound as the mound surrounds. for the sake of the sound for the hound of the ground. for the sake of the sound of the ground mound. for the sake of the sound of the mound of sound. for the sake of the molehill to mount 'pon the mounting. for the sake of the sound of the mound of sound. for the sake of the wake of the make of the sound of the mound for the sake of the sound of the mound.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

inroads, byways & gravel driveways

inroads, byways & gravel driveways


mas,

wondering what it is about these paths
makes us think we've got to map & measure
what we're sure changes even evry time we pass

but i'll find something soft enough
to lay my head on
in the driveway, dust is the pillow btwn stones
and above the onrush of celestial unreason
stoneage teevee, meaningful pinpricks
all sorts of bewildering wilderness confusions
lead naked apes down all possible paths
by foot or cycle; propeller or paddle.

pine needle carpet; a cold swampy mess.
a hot hot long parking lot; traintracks that end.
highways that connect to highways
that connecto to highways... divert
divert to the twisting two-lanes & discover
it's hard to be efficient following
the tight contours of the countryside.
topography of riverrun and water fall.
evry dim meander is a road.
evry atlas an encyclopedia
of misdirection.

how can you be right to go
to that strange and distant place?
what'd you ever lose there?

if evry doubtful byway is another
to get there
and the atlas has never held enough detail.

there's that unknown thing with infinite names
that never name it
this desire, that desire.
question. that question demands an answer
& that answer was the question in the first place.

if a highway exit is a sortie
the french for an outing
american for a fighter pilot's mission.

the bourgeosie ride a gilded carriage
to a small hillock (miss muffet's nearby)
for a picnic with a view of battle.
they look out over crumbcake
at something they dont even realize
is happening in front of them.

if a farmer come by and tole em
would they care or listen? if a gypsy
come along and sung the song of battle
could they hear above the din
of slurping curds & whey?

if a highway exit is a mission
a sortie into the unknowable suburbs
of the upper middle nowhere
that looks reamarkably like
the lower leftern somewhere

even though the climactic difference
really only has to do with the weather.

leave the geography alone.
quit askin so many kweshtuns.
somebody with opinions like yrs
best know when to keep his mouth shut.

if a highway exit is a mission
if a sortie is a picnic
if an atlas is an exit
evry exit is an in.

dint find my road
so i took em all.

they skirt round the mountains there
and come back to the circle
while others head off yondah.

well, i guess it wasnt this exit
i knew i shoulda...

if a book is an exit
you know the way in
off a cloverleaf
on luckynumbered highways

let bygones be
& keep yr ear to the rail
nose to the bone
shoulder to the stone.

put yr back into it man
cant just leave it
in the ditch like this
that's noway nowhere.

*
expatiate: (L expatiari) to go out of one's course
wander; 1) originally to roam or wander freely; hence, 2)
to speak or write at length; elaborate or enlarge (on
or upon).
*

what i thumbed across while i lookt for the definition
or inroad. where does an inroad go? in geography? on a map?
an inroad is a sudden invasion or raid
like a sortie, a mission, an inrush
more direct than a byway or gone
an unmappable mission
thru not completely hostile
but completely confused
territory.

we expatiate (as opposed to expatRiate)
push our feet
on thru the heavy pavement;
elaborate our shoes
til they stay on.
there is no need
to enlarge or enlengthen the roads
they are interminable, incorrigible, imperturbable.
they call and crawl to each other
they are the constraints
webbing & netting
themselves about the many tangled limbs of entropy.

and we walk the ley lines of empathy & forgetting.

what'd you ever lose there? as though to say
you better oughta lose somethin
afore you go lookin round for more.
never ask a question
til there's no other way.

you need to lose things
to find things.
seems like something
a simp or philosopher would say.
even if it's a lot more true
than 'what'd you ever lose there?'

i've never known what it was i lost
when i ws never there before
just because i ws never there before
doesnt mean i wasnt.

best know when to keep yr mouth shut.
that's good advice.
hide & watch.

best know when to keep yr mouth shut
timing is evrything
& some things are better left unsaid.

if you know when to shut yr mouth
it should be easy to talk.

taking the lay of the land
you got to have a way

if an atlas is an exit
evry exit is an in

didnt find my road
so i took em all

if a book is an exit
you know the way in

you got to have a way of seeing & saying
evry way out is another way in
when all you remember is what evryone else forgets.

bridging burning breaths,
a

Thursday, August 9, 2007

oilcan press

hi.

this is what will stand in for oilcanpress whilst i wait for a new computing machine. my adding machine is working only slightly. odd numbers only.

but, i have a typewriter.

if you would like a chapbook by edgar oliver. drop me an email oilcanpress[@]gmail.com


there are two by now: 'summer' is 5 bucks & 'a portrait of new york by a wanderer there' will set ye back 10 clams.

next will be a book of steve dalachinsky collages. 'christ among the fishes' it'll prolly cost a fortune b.c we're using real christs.

behind the beet

i have an enormous beet
the size of a small head

it feels deeply red
a fine crust of field dirt
barely tints the water
in the washing bowl.

this small head
of a beet? (is roots more like feet?)

an almost recognizable visage
could come to life
if it ws paired
with the burled and gnarled piece
of heavy driftwood
i've always thought looked
like little otik.

it would produce
a dire circumstance
should the beethead find its way
into the aquarium

& this plantly pair
thread itselves together
combine into
a burgeoning new lifeform
in the amniotic fishtank.

that little ecosystem
wouldnt hold out long
in the face of a being
that big.

this teakbeet
would easily escape
& live its myth
devouring all.

pets & people & passersby

the roots of the apocalypse
rest in an enormous beethead
on a precipice.