A Common Misunderstanding About What Dietrich Really Said

A lot of guys
Stop to ask me
What’s the secret of life?
And I’ll say to them
How the hell should I know
Except it’s what you see
All around you like
People sitting on the bus
Pile their bags so high
On the seat next to them
Because they don’t want anyone
Sitting right alongside
You see everybody is afraid
Of someone or something
Getting too close

And it’s the same with the rich
You know flying around
In their private jets
It’s the same damn thing
And it’s very dangerous too
All those movie stars
Politicians and musicians
Who lost their lives
In their private planes

Rugged individualism
Is what they used to call it
Back in the day
But that’s just words
They used to use
To try and give it
A positive spin
Something to say for
A good cub-scout leader
Maybe an infantry captain
Or anybody who knows
How to get by
No matter what
To live off the land
Just like me
Yeah I guess you could
Say that about me

Anyway
It’s like everyone
Made the same mistake
About what Marlene Dietrich said
She never said
She wanted to be alone
No siree
You see
That wasn't what she
Said at all
She said she wanted to be left alone
And you can take it from me
That’s a completely different thing
If you get what I mean

What Richard Told Me

You know why
There has to be a God
Richard says to me
Sitting in the back
Of Ali’s Deli
On 29th and Sixth

Look at the trillions
Of fish in the sea
And all the rice they grow
Underwater in the paddies
You take all that rice and fish
That comes from underwater
And you have enough for
A very healthy diet
Right there

And don’t forget
You still have
To call back
That Landlord
Down in Atlantic City
And if he asks you
How long I’m gonna stay
You should say
Just as long as he’s welcome
Just to show him that
I can be a very accommodating person
That is accommodating to
His disposition
And you have no idea
Frankly how temperamental
A Landlord’s disposition
Sometimes can be

For Dan

Let each poem
Be a celebration
Of life be it a moment
Of truth or continued
Uncertainty

As with the Saturday
Arrival of a package
From Putney
What the fuck?
My younger son exclaimed

And after opening it up
Holy Shit he further said
It’s a letter from Natalie
That says my application
Is complete and look here
It’s a plastic cow she sent me

Am I in or not?
Stop sending me
Rubber cows please
No more kitsch
I want the rest of my life
To begin already

This is a poem I composed at the James A. Farley Post Office on November 3rd where I went to send out one last package.


Let each day bring its own
good measure of life changing
circumstances
into existence


Each day may
the Kabbalah Truck
remain parked outside


With carts filled
with trays filled
with fresh baked
loaves of wisdom


Just waiting to greet you
on your way out
the front door

Blind to the World of Spirit

I wrote this poem early this morning. I wanted to post it quickly before having the chance to revise or disavow it.

Blind to the world of spirit

Only with eyes closed

Can the map's contours

Be discerned

How energy flows up

And out through

The crown of the head

Always rising and yet

Maintaining its own

Steady state

To know spirit

Is to know flesh and

Its dielectric constant

The permittivity of the possible

That love in every breath is

Made visible however

Limited in extent

In the chill morning air

Extension Cord by Brad Melamed

I love this image that my friend Brad Melamed posted to FB today.  This is part of recent series of work in which Brad has been exploring the connection between his hands and the rest of the world.  It seems like such a perfect drawing to accompany this poem - the permittivity of the possible - the idea could be more perfectly or cogently conveyed!

A Song of Lu Moutain

Here is a translation of one of Li Bai's spirit poems. The Madman of Chu appears briefly in the Analects and chides Confucius for thinking he can or should meddle in affairs of state.

A Song of Lu Mountain

I am the madman of Chu
Who sang for Confucius
And laughed at him too
All the while
In both my hands
A precious jade staff
Tightly I clasped

To Yellow Crane Tower
At dawn I departed
Onto the Five Sacred Peaks
Searching for Immortals
Far and wide

For an entire lifetime
Across Ming Shan
I have wandered there
Then across Lu Shan
Where I approached the Big Dipper
Through the nine screens
Traversing through clouds
Like wind through
A brocade clothe

Out of the shadows
And into brightness
I found a crystal clear lake
Its surface shimmering with
Dazzling colorful rays
And the gates of golden watchtower
Opened silently before me
Revealing in the distance
Two more enormous peaks

Down a winding path I strolled
Where there flowed a silvery stream
Under three stone bridges
It passed and then tumbled
Down a sheer precipice
In a misty waterfall
Obscure in thick with a
Blue green haze

While on the skyline
Clouds glowed persimmon
Herald of the morning sun
And birds beat their wings
In endless flight on their way
To the state of Wu

Ascending these heights
What great vistas have I seen
Of Heaven and Earth
As well as places in between
A river that flows apart from
Space and time
Measureless and vast
Filled with whitecaps
Flowing fast
Yellow clouds
Propelled ten thousand miles
By the relentless wind
Towards nine distant
Snowcapped peaks


This is the song
Of Lu Shan
The spirit that
The mountain speaks
At leisure I gaze
At her rocky crags
As into a mirror
More clearly
It’s my own heart
I glimpse

Down pathways
Long overgrown
Moss everywhere
A thick dark green
Taking an extra dose
Of cinnabar tablets
Beyond this world
The heart stirs
Like a zither
Strummed three times
It trills from
First to last

And far in the distance
See the Immortals assembling
Filled with roseate inner light
In their hands they hold
Hibiscus blossoms
To present the Jade Emperor
In the Imperial Court

Before crossing the void
Nine levels ascending
At last arriving
At the truth of Lu
Approaching utter clarity
Though the work continues
Onward still

From the Desk of the General Counsel (II)

With apologies to Gus and Jim
And to all my other clients
My sincerest regrets
That I couldn’t take
Their legal problems
Any more seriously

But being so ill-suited
To the tasks at hand
The endless wrangling and
The mind numbing detail
While nonetheless needing
To keep on paying the rent

Just as the scam blogs lament
I came to be compromised
To an unbearable extent
I felt guilt and distress
About the fraud of the law
But what’s a middle class boy
Supposed to do
When there’s rent
To be paid
And various other markers
Are all about to come due