after Allen Ginsberg for John Giorno
 
 
 
I typed the word joy
followed by suffering
 
                                    then deleted them
 
I thought to write
of the man riding
a unicycle while
juggling bowling
pins while another
man stared with a look
of mild irritation
 
                                    or is that projection
                                    all mine
 
I started a poem
with a line by Franco
Beltrametti and found
 
                                    that the line was the poem
                                    there was nothing else to say
 
I walked by
an apartment with a sign
LION’S DEN and a stained
glass cardinal in the window
then my dog charged
a group of pigeons
 
                                    these are just things
                                    that I saw the remarkable
                                    isn’t always meaningful
                                                 not every
                                                              day
 
as I passed a man
leaning against his car
he said
PEOPLE BELIEVE WHAT THEY WANNA BELIEVE
then a woman
walking her dog
said into her phone
I ORDERED THE TOWELS FOR FIRE ISLAND
 
                                    months ago
                                    I tried to find a rental there
                                    but everything was booked
 
my lover just texted
I LIKE THIS WEATHER
I like when she writes
about the weather
as Goethe noted
important for the traveller
 
                                    yet I left the house without
                                    an umbrella which I realized
                                    when light wind blew water from
                                    the fountain against my face
 
my head was in the clouds
 
                                    my head was in the clouds
 
                                    I thought about calling this
                                    HEAD IN CLOUDS
 
the only train into
Manhattan was the R
which a mob was waiting for
and would not get me to
my appointment
 
                                    so I walked across
                                    the Manhattan Bridge
 
the sky had turned blue
I kept walking
through Chinatown
up Bowery
to the New Museum
 
                                    suddenly I was inside
                                    I’m not supposed to buy
                                    more books but bought two
 
Morante and Calasso
it felt meaningful
 
                                    I said hi! to the three scowling workers two
                                    peeled away leaving one to help me
                                    he did respond to my heart’s insistence
                                    that he have a good day
 
I let down my guard on
2nd Ave. didn’t see the construction
worker holding a SLOW sign
 
                                    she said  I DON’T WANT YOU TO GET HURT
                                    I thanked her as we smiled at each other
 
the Beltrametti line
which is a poem
 
                                    after all
                                    if I’m remembering  correctly is
 
THERE IS NOTHING SPECIAL TO UNDERSTAND
JUST PAY ATTENTION
 
 
 
 
27 June 2017