clark coolidge
when he played drums for
serpent power
(1967)
A FELT SUCCESS
Learn how to put things will you? the pencil
won't stop probing miracles occur down the tube
ink in your shoes through a flatter hat you couldn't
run a whole airplane lost in the Atlantic
Never to be done again the Pacific gleaming
put on orange pants for trawler duty
there's something in the learning glass apparently
peppermint will improve you Palmer Method
she's alive but she's a mess torque you see
that's an idea an alum shield the duration
THUD somebody's here the pain will kill her
the blood will hurt a lot very much can't stand it
the survivors stood on a shutter while the sun
made with the steady blinks and moved multitudes
READ ONCE
Put on this wig and fiddle with those bottles
weak hands in a vast landscape resultant
the effect of certain chests see if you can
set this safe a potpourri of betters
there are certain Houdinis obstacles here
the pen flows where the brain cramps
the city blows only the museum remains
a laying-on of wee surprises use no orioles
there are other-colored collars statistical fillings
moldings of the Gold Octet those boys
occupational blizzards at cop-out speed were you
a Nazarene? a localizer bittersweet fat port
the fog is a washout come home
no matter the obstacle falls come
DOWN AT GRANNY'S CAVE
Anyone interested in art is welcome to shoot up the place
auto mechanics washing down church sides
an iron clock interrupts the grammar lesson
thumbtacks in the coffee you better listen
a split second blink could do it kill some
too few downturns in your m's pouting over
a box loading operation some temper with your tunes?
reflections in the snow? nobody'll ever
you mean it? lot of stone too much telephone
yellowjackets as a coat nightmare as a lock
then only a peck of lemons nobody cares where you are
the eve of optics Orlando Cepeda knows
The Shadow stirs losses all around
the creek turns into a reservoir and explodes
THINK THIS
You don't understand from now on
we'll have grey fun lodged in the skull
it seemed a mind or violin frog?
real striper teacher a car cheat
the clearance to admire sheer doors
the rest suspended by naked strands
couldn't make up their minds was it
a home or a gallery they lived in?
a most tiring mist had come over them
so they attended bed turned off all that stuff
had been speaking the wrong language all their lives
please sharpen those the basement is full of Serbs
I'm positive as wrong as I've been
the field is full of notes not dates
CLARK COOLIDGE
88 SONNETS
Fence Books, 2012
