FEEDBACK
“and so cold”
William Carlos Williams
just want to say
you wrecked
my night
my day
my week
my month, my year
my death
my life
playing
like that
coaching like that
do you
not know?
is it not
amongst the so
many things
you do
not know?
FEEDBACK
“and so cold”
William Carlos Williams
just want to say
you wrecked
my night
my day
my week
my month, my year
my death
my life
playing
like that
coaching like that
do you
not know?
is it not
amongst the so
many things
you do
not know?
KANSAS GEORGE AND
THE FLYING MONKEY
Hello George
I am
also
George
funny about that
isn’t it
George
people might call it
a coincidence
but there
are no
coincidences
where are
we George?
are you the blue fairy?
are we
both red fairies?
are we
the munchkins
are we
in Kansas, in Oz
somewhere in the 60s
down
in Hait-Ashbury
carefree
and happy
enjoying
a summer of love
now
don’t go
wicked witch on me George
fall on that
ball all
serious
go total
flying monkey
jumping on that ball
as if it is not
all
just a game.
HELLO GEORGE
hello George
are we in Lyra
is this the star Vega?
good to see
you
we have.the same
name we
could be friends
cannot hear so well
from inside that thing
must be a
space helmet you
are wearing
red and yellow red
and gold we
are so brightly
coloured
this evening
and he you are
mumbling stuff about
yards and downs
and winning
turn overs
and not being
on Vega
but in Nevada
Las Vegas
and completely ignoring me
you have just
jumped on
the ball
SIX
sometimes
simplicity rules
so much practice until
instilled
becomes
embodied in
perfect delivery
and, talking of perfect,
in your hands
a dossier of
perfect plays
grandmaster chess puzzles
fail to
rival
in their brilliant complexity
but here
we have comedy
see epic antagonists
convulsed with laughter
suddenly the script has the
texture of absurd theatre
longer
than waiting for Godot
waiting for
Super Bowl six
SUPER BOWL POEM
woke up
in time to hold off
on the SuperBowl result
worst fears confirmed when
I summoned up courage
to check
yep Brock loves God
but Brock loves
Patrick Mahomes
(does not seem
to care much about
Head Coach Kyle Shanahan)
and at this
juncture, out of the blue,
an unruly host of
archetypes made their move
wanted to stick
around a bit, get
the lie
of the land in the process
of passing through me
a mad mosaic it was
for a while
many shapes and
sizes, manners and
demeanours
jostling up against each other
(Brownian motion)
excanging, debating,
doing their
dialectic dance, analysis
synthesis
no homogenizing
and there I was in a carnivalesque dream
chatting to the players in
St Francis’ kingdom
of those elevated
high above
the realms
of material wealth
peering into the abyss that
a philosopher cum psychologist
had laid
before me
a tablet broken with the
entire script jagged
and there on the road
a burnt out humvee
and there in the docks
a rusting destroyer
archetypes at home within
settling
for a game of solitaire
and me
thinking, wondering,
who does have a
prophetic bone in this
my body
is winning everything?
and if it is not
will there ever
indeed
be an end to war?
KYLE AT CHESS
After those blown
final quarters think
I should
play Kyle at chess
across 64 white
black squares
he would
not be at his best
checking on
his playbook
instead of
analyzing the
board
fools mate, scholars mate,
smothered mate
quick
into the pan
fried liver mate
one, two,
three, West
Coast, East Coast
Bobby Fischer
(merciful) mate
he wouldn’t need to
worry about
the torture of
leading
heading into an
endgame, being
outmanouvered
at the end
GIMME
world’s
falling apart
little children
getting blown
to
smithereens
so gimme that
sweet false consciousness
that would come
with a
SuperBowl victory
don’t let Mahomes
spoil everything
with
an insane overtime
charge
this after Kyle left
his best laid plans
in a briefcase
in the
locker room
this is not
the script I want,
I need
so write me a new one
bring me that
thick syrupy delusion
that a Niners’
Vegas victory
would bring
the world falling apart
bits
of little
children
how come I always get
caught this way
how come
I’m not
so smart
EITHER
being the Niners
we are either
going to fail abysmally
or hit transcendental
soar to unseen
new levels
most likely though,
would be
both
one
then the other
in the course of one game

NINE LIVES
to win
the Superbowl
we are going to
need every
good witch
in the land
of Oz
get Brock’s arm
to perform miracles
carving up the Chief’s defence
like they
a basket
of loaves
and fished
or the blessed Saint Patrick
otherwise known
as Mahomes
to twist his wrist
stub his toe
will be the sign to
show him
Kansas going bye-bye
he ain’t in Kansas no more