songanddancegirl

LAST

THE  LAST    SUPPER

He’s 24 yrs. old  now under ice & snow

His obituary oblique  He will be missed

by his girlfriend Rylie  & his dog Shadow

Sleep tight  the final phrase

In the photo he is smiling broadly   dark

curly hair frames his face   Grandfather a

war hero  mercifully pre-deceased his boy

Family’s shining star   Father a jovial man

no more

Today Spring feels almost possible  birds

chirping at 4:26 a.m.   Outback the rugged

man  has a beer at 10   Whistling a tune on

the fire escape    By noon the family arrives

at Cemetery  north of city

Ice  snow  & mud  covered by a tarp   Family

will leave before mini-bulldozer re-fills the

hole   Do they cover the mound  to make it

genteel?    Gentle?

So that we  may remain in denial for a few

moments more?  The churned up earth is nasty

& un-gentle    It will do it’s job   hold him fast

Outlast wood

This year there will be no Spring

No Resurrection    Everything is broken

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Winter  2014    RIP  K.B.T.

FREE

LAND  OF  THE  BRAVE     HOME  OF  THE  FREE

Dario Franceschini   Italy’s Culture Minister  is outraged

ditto for Cristina Acidini (Curator)  It seems that  Armalite

a  fine quality U.S. Fire Arms company  has used a photo of

 Michelangelo’s  DAVID   for their blow-out   Spring sale

Many Italians took umbrage  one tweeted: Why don’t you use

your own bloody monuments?   Perhaps the Liberty Bell  with

a huge pile of  AR – 501 bolt action rifles below it

Sadly the Bell  lost some it’s cachet when Taco Bell announced it had

purchased it  and changed it’s name to: Taco Liberty (April 1, 1996)

Despite protests  company sales of tacos  burritos  & enchiladas rose by

more than a billion dollars that week

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Winter  2014

LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

A  MAN  NEEDS  A    MAID

At least 4 maids went mad in our front hall

The last one  Lucy  shouted obscenities  &

kicked the dog    We were consoled by the

fact that she didn’t pull a  Dexter  and chop

up little brother  He grew up with a penchant

for horror   His favourite film  The Shining

The first 3 were named Mary   1 stole pictures

of our mother visiting the Continent   They were

found later with captions: Paris was fantastique!

Sounds like the onset of madness  to me

In my mind’s eye   I see the 1^st Mary  all dressed

in blue  with stigmata on her cheeks   Her son in

prison for crimes he never committed   Not prodigal

Never returned   Mary now straight-jacketed marching

toward a cruiser    Each day she wept into our baths

salt mixing with dove mixing with neurosis

The one named Brenda (our 1^st not-Mary)  fell hard

for my 16 yr. old brother   Bestowing the kinds of

kisses our mother would never have dreamed   She

later ran off with our neighbor Rubin   Stepmother to

Lilibeth & Hilda   now a suburban Queen

We lived on a deep & fertile ravine  where wild animals

& satyrs cavorted   While out front Cadillacs of various

colours gave off a gold-toothed gleam   When we drove

out to farm-country our father lowed convincingly   & all

the cows for miles around chased us to our mother’s screams

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Winter  2014

CYBER-HEAVEN

IMAGINE  THERE’S  NO    CYBER-HEAVEN

Verno Vinge   science fiction aficionado said:

By 2040 we will merge with our computers

cast off our bodies   realize immortality

the Singularity will be upon us

This idea is now embraced as fact  but will we

still be Human?  Have we ever been?  Or have

we remained that mutation slouching out of Africa

millennia ago?

Will there still be:  war  serial killers  gangs?

(who slash hundreds in the subways of China)

Wasn’t religion supposed to be the opiate of

the masses?  Stone tablets the first glimmering

of the human conscience?

Remember  the Savage  in Brave New World?

Last remaining old world Human   wound up on a

rope  in the shower   Ditto for David Foster Wallace

brilliant young man of American letters  on his front porch

There is no evidence to suggest that our constant interface

with technology is making us happier   braver    Studies show

that we trust techno-gadgets more than our instincts   Take the

couple who followed their GPS  into the wilderness  & died

though surrounded by paved roads

Long passive from relying on the machine  human creativity

disappears   The God in the machine pricks up his ears   & returns

to the Mothership    finally weary of our anxiety  & depression

Abandoned here some of us loot  looted art   & begin a movement

to rehabilitate Heaven

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Winter  2014

SIBERIA

LEFT  MY  HEART    IN  SIBERIA

Cool Polish ladies dance the night away

I want to dance with them   too shy    so I

watch transfixed   My grandmother’s Poland

did not look like this

Lightening Lee  & Little Freddie King headline

tonight    Lee is effusive   spits a lot  mainly in my

husband’s direction   He gives me a faux red rose

bordello scented   I cannot take it home  I may be

arrested at the border

Little Freddie wears red   He is 4 foot 7  and sits

close to the Polish ladies   on a bench   He is cool

incarnate   Plays the guitar like the devil knows

his name

Later I kiss Lee on a moist cheek   Margaritas have

flown freely    He whispers in my ear: ditch yer bro

&  yer husband  Red    Come with me

Never  go to New Orleans  gentle reader   I implore you

For though The Saints  may pray for your sorry-ass soul

In your chest there will reside a heart shaped hole    

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Winter  2014

REVISITED

LOVE IS BLUE    REVISITED

There is youngish woman today

gazing at the Gutfreund sculpture

enraptured    She lives in machinery

head-gear   oxygen packs hanging

on her  chair    She is pale    almost

blue   like the statue    But she is here

Woman in chair has broken into song:

You’ve gotta live  a little   die a little

She is inches from me  smiling   pretty

She is saintful  grateful    & somehow free

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Winter  2014   A.G.O.  Jean Metzinger  Woman With Fan 1911-1912

METROPOLIS

MODERN  METROPOLIS

Mother & daughter in front of a Picasso

1900  Paris night club scene  in motion

Candles flicker  faces blurry around edges

Women triumphant  no she-goats in sight

Daughter  many shades of blonde  examines

the piece   6 inch stilettos  fur tails hang    asymmetrically

Leopard print dress   drum tight

Mother sensible coat & shoes  hair several hues

of blonde  too   Both have a bald spot mid-head

Mother’s   more progressed

Daughter eyes me menacingly  her beauty creeping

toward the exit   Mother was always more interesting

Lingers in front of Kandinsky   as daughter poses for

art patrons   not beguilingly

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New Technology in mother’s era:

cellophane

elevators

pop-up toasters

mustard gas

automobiles

hand grenades

Winter  2014   Art Gallery Of Ontario  The Great Upheaval  Picasso

WEDDING

NICE  DAY  FOR  A  WHITE  WEDDING?

battered gowns of ochre   orange   finally stripped

away   the reveal:  dark brittle crinolines  brought

down by wind & ice   now covered in shimmering

white  10 more cm  late into the night

magnolia dresses months away   citydwellers wild eyed

with migraines   slump toward spring   this year they will

remain slightly mad    this year some   won’t make it back

__

Hey little sister who’s your superman?

It’s a nice day to start again (come on)

It’s a nice day for a white wedding

It’s a nice day to start again

Billy Idol

Winter  2014