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6/27/13

Noah Eli Gordon

LUGGAGE ARRIVES IN THE WORLD WHERE IT WAITS
for Oren Silverman

just as two lines arrive in the poem as a couplet
so two policemen arrive at the edge of the world

one in front of the other, but from a different angle
simply parallel, proving authority’s only the arrival

of an imposition imposing its rule on whomever
allows the flower to wilt in the tiny world of its water glass

what is the image of happiness if not when
alarms ring out in the world & we ignore them

all the police aimlessly wandering through our poems
the sad pride of all the police aimlessly wandering

how wonderful to sit here and hum
purposefully alive with the fires of boredom


from The Year of the Rooster

You & Roo’s collaborative poem
on the ills of capital
You & Roo’s condemnation of nudity
with all clothes removed

Blah, blah, blah… the body, etcetera

La-la-la… Lacan, etcetera

All these poets disgusted by flowers
ashamed of the semen covering everything in sight

Blah, blah, blah—the body
La-la-la—Lacan

This bare spot where bark’s abraded
is perfect for carving your name

Go ahead, throw a tantrum
Tumultuous terrible eros pierces everything

          so like a dance whose choreographer insists
          each participant know only her own part
          producing on stage the genuine surprise
          life otherwise lacks


WHY I AM NOT AN ACADEMIC


There’s the sun

And there—the culture of sun

The first word spoken in its shadow was a verb

The first spoken in the shadow of its shadow, an adjective

One dances to decorous music

The other hardly moves at all

Noah Eli Gordon's latest book, The Year of the Rooster, is available from Ahsahta Press. He operates various levers behind Letter Machine Editions, The Volta, Subito Press, and CUBoulder’s MFA program.

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