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Painted Life
In memory of Norma Shearer
brash gusts of indifference slurp their way towards an understanding
we shudder and remove icicles Celtics crash on filthy pink, striped
elephant-cage noxious hideously painful chocolate process, investigative
of airs historic fragments lounge in citadels of Factory largesse, a moment
too eloquent for green blue and white leather brought over my aquarium
Hercules' painted nodes suggest a drink? Uraeginthus cyanocephalus
rocking a mandolin woof! woof! sideboard into stable violet it looks
serious "whatever that means" timeless stare into the eyes, acolytic lips
that face you want to fold over you against chandelier reconnaissance
would roger you silly Lincoln Center she disappears, I'll go in, take it
off, and poof! periwinkle communicative growl, indecent laboring
bedside trumpet, Henry Moore squats in water, points out the
flowers azalea 'hot shot' evergreen tumult indecipherable laughter
porous white criminal messages decoded frantic alibi akin to
lozenge whisker benday simultaneous golden layer fierceness, figure
relenting in tune, porcupine delectable silent noises, sit at table of
Christlike paint, "overlapping" frames, surfaces aglow, configured
last glance at settings admirably Tookay struggling towards light
incessant apostrophe ignites warmer sedulous green! green!
houseflies battle gigantic tongue-lashing moths caerulean integer
homily at once and credibly bounded, too challenging alone with
life, come talk to me, sing me 50,000,000 Frenchmen or other
cadaverous, welcoming fringe belief in nothing? no flapping of wings
calls, rain shroud expands city restlessness, t-shirt bauble, I'd've
twisted relentlessly crushed above Saturn, fright mixing hogwash
intelligence, you've entered a palpable keyboard, bright mist
obscures soul, object no frequent clash painting moves (forward)
again, typed fantasies, crumbling on floor coffee stains crumbcake
benevolence exact mercantile prescience, thanks! egregious sacrifice
hanker discipline to sit and apply fasteners, oneself as busybody
fragrance distract huge fat as of Egypt temple columnar staple,
gives matter to rests, chiselling horn and drum Baroque English chilling
thud shouldn't look farther than cup in hand nearest table, chair is
returned, harmony sums up Sunday ability not enough, have to bow
down to someone, something, shove allegiance in golden naked
goblet spring to life, butterflies, wet brick discharge mail trucks filed
in Westpoint arches, decorative imagination, buildings clad in house-like
tops, snuggle up to dead traffic endless plod, fantastic curls driven
down the face, colored orbiting at home, lounge from couch to couch
each shooting colored walls to each, wooden carving antique element
inspired forgot, trashheap esprit nothing dead as a photograph, water
burbles candles a regressive wealth for idea fern monster papyrus
it is completed, arrived, slashed to pure existence in a frame of
blank reference, stymied approach one gloats, purpled gentle
beyond literal fuzz, wheel-blast casual shaving aimless toward music
an ebbtide of doubt, malingering seaside effectually one abandoning heaps
redoubtable presentable currents redignifying precept credit binge intact
croute offer inside accountable raisin figurative the big garlic humility regional
encountered daily refund attackers ordinary but linked symmetrically inward
gregarious liability laugh edged uppercut definable error plexus unarmed grin
prosperity lax inquest denomination origin ineptitude regressing upstart gin
reminded uncouth breastplate system belong squirming unless pestered sorry
nuts on the air or faded, seeming un-earth as wettened notices harms soft carry
voracious sidekick, marveled medicament preventative palliate protusions
legislate untorturous bedlines, prenostic rearfire, gain over culling obtrusion
priceless mitten, precox lyme blue pimentium, melodium cum perturbat
bereft candycane, natted freecog constitute miny wetbath? prime waste hub
melodic brain pep mod upish hung gum pre hock himbup pretog himback
waste fabric overlays cantonic weblength phallofy hedge runup hesitated
presenters unlaid Byzantian sledge walk mollify rent occluded busride back
fogs of hedges, clothes linked in dull toll cars, runaway pinup ecstatic hayride
frogs begulches, trim bath, rain precision toolkit bundling rupture attic palisade
Anatolia wetly
insane bedtrust indignant wetted infract betide
host sandwich mirage midrange Oklahoma preview
boring attachment, crust magnifier retouch portable
creampuff sitable compact badland sold me different
sans equipement, legalement, sans bagage
steps, platforms, lead down into river, rain pelts architectural
puddles, life grows there, tendrils corkscrew Upper Keram dwarfed
plethora, the Countess pouts behind sanguine inundation, forestry
signals through complete color, density swift forgiven intolerable
knowledge, birds sit in their feed, boy'd marble stalls, notes in
convex mirror, I crawl inch by inch through paint, oranges
browns, black, a green, and pink, I try different chairs on for size
Crossoptilon mantchuricum sexes alike, feathers loose and 'hairy'
running fast if alarmed, taking off uphill and planing down again
we are sighing and beating our breasts, puffing mentholated humps
in the the chunk buffer, swims admiring in front of merchant encore
pleased, the Cygnus atratus, famous in poetry, limns eagerly on shore
blinking, he pauses, merely to wander in wonder, admirably, a fourth time
he is influenced by weather, makes distinctive noise in flight, pastel
wedged to book gloss, Helmut Bechtel harumph indique phrase book
Barbet, the original Bunte Welt der Stubenvögel, the use of
longer focal lengths, the Moluccan Cockatoo, branch English farce
dancing with a Masked, big-headed, Lovebird, over by midnight
square-tailed Caique telegrams Brazil, Cotinga amabilis
Cock of the Rock, Bulbul and Babbler, Indigo Bunting
Violet-blue Euphonia warbles sweetly, delicious Scarlet
Tanager of eastern Brazil, Napeolean Weaver all fly by too fast
to be contemplated, the friendly songster breeds readily, Amadavat
Varied Lorikeet listen to the voice of reason stuttering eloquies
bandaged footroom inside always time to fix agenda, remove shoes
eyes close, carpet flowers transfix but now muddied with all
Hunt's obfuscation (nodded) forthright elegance, shoes on, walk past
ye olde fishbowl intelligence, forested quips, lie back in pink fauteuil
bizarre rumbling as of building collapse into river, mechanic
wisdom floated dull bangles, increscent mirage slam pizza
Dee's salad dressing, Rudy's "Hidden Drive," Alex's forsythia
Red and Lysiane smile from the cool face of temporality, all one
must do is continue down face of page, incrementing anchovy after
Cockatiel, blessed hair lofts of angry insistence, blow foghorn
major third suspension, random cadence in rain had emptied pockets
it's easy to kneel among so much art, easy to start in one place
and continue, the earliest startlingly alive that we'd buried and unearthed
at points in a projection, limber limbs, light-filtered wings, two
specimens on a sandy ground, neutral to today, godhead buzzing a pinprick
light dims, but the paintings still glow, give off interior light
moreso as dusk penetrates the room, century's oafish goals
twinkle dumbly, industrial sounds, spirits housed in hunks of matter
Bold tragic developments spread outrageous fathoms darkly brightest
couplet cadmium yellow deep and cadmium yellow pale from here
World Trade Center's gigantic miniature Century Overhead Doors, Inc.
718-417-9698 benighted excrescence finagle humpback oratory fric
bellow coarse prognosis finger elite dial synapse recur blighted sun factor
the sun in bars or is it shadows? depths the watch hands Hercules's two new
pals loll beneath newspaper 'Lunchmoney!' 'Goombye!' sad coffee THE BIG
(c) 1993 Sherri Cup, Inc. 'in this great relationship' sharp and blurry
you suddenly see clearly averts bends dilates Ulm Austerlitz Wagram
The Monty Pneumatic Saddle "Cataleya" Rainbow Rudi
dance music from 1920s sunlight burst on yellow thick buds aqua
doors telephone value of the clarinet goof vocals shimmer reflections
river's palatable with Jersey docks inches welcome piano bard gaily
sings this way or that we'll play it as silly as sex in the afternoon, b'golly!
corner sidewalk plaid shirt waits, crosses, old time light posts garden
appears sculpture no seat stack but it does to eyes looking appear, act of
Pentagon fights for lust give the pink room its due traffic flood past
Verrazano sailboats leave my coffee through dusty window music follows
trumpet attack sad old river, surface solid reflection, three golden guppies
The Animal Medical Center declines on orange leather couch, keep coming
back to different favorites, a revolving sequence, Hannah in green sorts
slides I slide from perch to bed hums of life alight in conscious frog
that language deleted from novel's friend masterpiece singling breaks office
tiny navel battlements London Towers receding architecture bird sings
precise golden opulence berry motif ice cold orange juice go-go frame
face in the mirror body ketchup red floor abuts mustard brick
the time comes rapping face in blue globe sun behind thick damask
pierced models race tiny hammer green blue push pin melted red candle
canary & finch gravel with oyster shells and flaked charcoal grit
essential gravier pour serins et pinsons Darshan life is an obstacle of course
You are a bundle of energy, always on the go The Starrett Coffee Shop
Restaurant 'How's Monday night?' 'Let's look before you go' cooking done
on premises 601 West 26th Street (Between 11th & 12th Avenues)
Lehigh Building (managed Helmsley-Spear) for fast & free delivery
please call (212) 242-4509 30c extra for all outgoing plates telephone
rings, then doorbell, it's chocolate cake, coconut pie, one black coffee
and a diet Coke, Staten Island looms distantly in trees, that evil
spirit is nothing but Voodoo, dancing the devil away, corny drug addict
pop compressed silly paranoia soda fountain horns Hunt on phone talks
right-handed left he scratches into face of Countess, Hercules revealed
in plastic water, I crouch behind paintings unobserved, wet coconut paint intimate
swellings minute striations of pure tone, infinitesimally changing line
odd unnoticed occurrences the painting upside-down two new people whispering
in corner of Warhol sofa Hunt continues conversation hatchmarks actually
they are three best coconut pie in town I put another penny on candle
stand seclude to fern room glassy lemon tea frankincense cantankerous
freeload combine erected fruitful Gimbel Strayhorn peacock lucence
rescinded mathematic in spite of grand cur methodic wing bat
back offal in regard for system's densely padded strictures, orangutan
crinkled patterns bulge the overwhelming crimson diatribe sprinkles didact
manifest in minutes the peerless crest foreboding twinkle shoes socks
tiny flies books! books! the cry of hunger nothing endless swirls
pink manifested out of shame, reduced laughing Higginbotham distances
planes of light deafen telephone industry, plainsong recent
deluge increase plain blue streaking sky up Metropolitan Building
staid against poking barbershop honeyed watchface, Jean Georges
reticence malleable to frost pancake powder delinquent margin feast
beeper re-up Mandingo fluster betwixt ouragan bedeviled windlass
stacks of texts in windows large-paned dullness wheeled struts pertaining
listless organic Prescott unduly pitted hourglass Hunt pick up
telephone one-hand dial walks out orange t-shirt shorts how's
the painting, I mean scratching, going? time looses its knots scuttles
translucent leaves 1980s like 1880s suitable redoubt or horizontal or vertical
Faros papel arroz Tabacalera Mexicana, Mexico, D.F. dejar de fumar reduce
Friday and Saturday eight a.m. receive commentary sharper need
different colored wigs locks harsh contraption thrown on cement
blue hair green yellow red same as in paintings Vishnu Krishna
Hanuman Shree Ganesh fresh from India and the lake on 1,000- acre
farm in Virginia, before New York, Tama Ronnie face
propped suddenly in front of book on top of paint, held together
orange antechamber Saturday, June 7, 1997, clouds dispelled in sunlight
air, walk the galleries, numbed to talk, let paint say it. De Kooning, Winters
Marden, the rest pure poppycock, Boyang 100% human hair close early, 5 pm
on watchface but feels midday, light fills sky sidewalk breeze Linden leaves
Indian popdrift from 'For Sale' old Lincoln Town Car, choice
of word is food, waiting on sidewalk with Raleigh bicycle, trust, eliminate
branch rapture encrust there's Rudy buying fruit on corner hasn't seen me
yet, we met at Marks, I biked it back, he bussed to 50 W. 29, afternoon's
photographic energy 'uh-oh' gaseous hum enveloping sunset's lapping
mastodon columns Egyptian flare sun beckons astride river's calm patter
Jersey spire, domed cathedral mute say goodbye to Helios, dumb
helicopter wagging blade at port, now it changes, wings go down, angry
car stop-start highway light, the river pulls us up and beyond
consequence, facture, indemnity's bubbled link, rosy nausea pinup
hobbled instance rebounds titillate foregone plush recompense, only
sun burns into loft, I stand out on edge of parapet, New York
to my left, sunset ahead, smiles 'Come on, come on!' what?
leave everything, is it? walk out into evening free of eventail
lofted, important, a being in purity, go west, go east, leave
a note in the basement, 'nothing matters' hums the sun, and breakfast,
lawns, dishes await, train rides through adolescent towns, backporch
soliloquy, while at your feet the junk of damaged, time-torn, wharf, it too
exists into the river, former habits aligned in rotten pattern, that
is beauty, but (sun dips behind an ugly complex) you need to go, yes
go and find it, drop everything, symbols, entities, luck, bareback
contusion, bridled affairs in electronic wake, pick up your sandals
before the glow awakes, before the noon smacks tufts, silent go
I believe I have the strength to tackle dusk, I look down on 27th Street's
somnolent energy, train yards arched by 11th Avenue's flow, pedestaled
water towers, six elevator towers housed in sequence, each with six
parapets, up ahead looms the project park, Hudson Guild, a pigeon
wheels over white-painted Greek roof jet streak up there catching the sun
but I need to stay down, lounging on the blue sofa, attending the doorbell
'20s music drones on, drugging me back to infantile ineptitude, like
Veronika Voss, Vivien's voice joins the faraway sounds of large dusk
oleander yellow hibiscus forgiven absence retards finite specificity
arise pilgrim error blanket imbibe request alphabet polite dry detergents
in consequence arrival picnic await billiard maximal pull digest avail
crimson eroded pig dealer house my tide up with organs multiplying
Singh, Mareeler, precious wigwam prism article arising pamphlet
hinges party event requisition malted region upset reviled headlong
pizza crust agitates a bend repulse friended boardwalk apple fringe
foreclose remnant Portugal election humbug geezer restrict phantom
eggbeater pinball Sinbad alive teenage represent ruler shovel aboard
Majestic Roger & Sons imperial bedcrust intent on spying weekend lapse
singing Wheetabix oracle time a seige for casein colors
embedded purple bolted wood white painted brick floorboards
back to Greek temple translations working one’s way into
the paint, the words, the day swarming on hot Bowery in May sun
summer heats city hats, colored graffiti portraits loom on cinderblocked
visages opposite, yellow telephone blue ring, green eyes Cannon Co. Inc.
ancient iron façade behind diamonded gates blocks angles rules
lamp black Payne’s gray Irish oatmeal hovers inside the purple miniature
television garbage surge surely there is something terrible
important to be doing now, not listening to dull creak of traffic, spaces
between space and letter, next thought arriving en train de whitewash
night awaits its turn to sink savage fangs into flesh no judgement
I jump up from my seat and cry ‘Elaine! Bobby!’ the metal
racket cars trucks sideways the first afternoon the city deplores
criminal interest requires symmetry athwart Himalya quip retard
Bellevue regain witness symbol exchange wetting wind on needle plusses
purview excite pen pencil aghast gasps ‘that big!’ what some
horrible frequent Nile operate then sunk meters to core bent receive
sits glibly not patient satisfied paint astir winks preset the sign
sounds of stirring canvas wood metal cable a signature and travel
beyond Weehawken’s blind summit regress intimate barrow defilement
Wesselmann sleep depends outrageous rise in cheap orient the paintings
ride from site to site, shining insistence to forego unit’s
bedtime wingnut parasol unit sleep descends weakens my limbs hungry
again, leaning laughily chateaus lurch into sky dense urban fantasy
the mind extends into dream, the body lapses ultimately
when there’s no turn to take or limit to impose, signs appear
of themselves, revealing to the people the error of everyone’s ways
and that they alone mix contempt with lassitude for the ideal
cocktail turpenoid green-patterned afternoon comes through back bath
flutters on floor incised mirror brass tins what is art?
Leo Tolstoy ailanthus temperature bland leather patches seats arranged
round a front three huge vistas visages slender columns space a place
of work the centuries lapse art and money a breadcrust magnifying
silence the sound of coins afternoon in New York is pleasant
I have entered the day accepted its rhythm no need to ruin
its blank effortlessness better than rushing and pushing puffing and scrambling
descend into its light its weight in the backyard birdsong lightly lifted
astride skyscrapers’ arid grace glum mystery ably dissembled forward
Every one fits into a life, Ingres Stendahl lifts incision
precise reference to the look of, assumed mass askance dialing
tablet prism intersect above papier-mâché oddball wince
terrors given interpolated accumulate the chair is light
diamonded arrow pattern radiator crash-protected bulbs items of a former life
left behind states and ties ago to what we seem now overlooking
curled iron gating Chelseaesque Taaffe insight coming down the mountain
turbulent sound inside deep the crania but outside the lives pulse
limitless vast profusion of sneakers, rubber mat neat arranged
brushes, tins, paints in rows Mussini Manganese Blue Hue Phthalo
Turquoise, endless tubes drips on the sides, large images restless rise
to confront inequalities of scale, vision dog-eared repent scowls
sculls jetting upstream, the trainer looses hand the lead trails
off, voice breaks, then you’re standing in a hot airless tomb, venting
soliloquy turbid renaissance no time for books, relax your grip on love’s
excess, dip, wrist, flip, sensation impulse in die-cast limit fluorescence
timid cafe words creep from design, timed images erupt later, in bed
we look for wet meaning, sorry the soggy truth is hurtled by the canal
it feels so true, you’re lying on the floor, dumbfounded between rhythms
crawl past refrigerator, funny place for a mirror, rounded edges
plunged sideways lament sock orange pulse derange pregnant elf
you see marks and it all arranges itself, flat and it comes out of
nowhere, shielded treats pressed into mauve sandal, regions bereft singled
priest breakfast undialed limp headrest expunge horror’s glee president humble
it flees and flutters, asks obeisance, resists, kick untold bleeding
going from the big to the small, outside to in’s the kick the whole smelly
game, wick back and forth, Hugh abstinence preview dead coffee ad prop
Campaccio Terrabianca put on pyjamas bedtime story November moonlight
David Roberts sick as a dog a case of diarrhea we can keep talking
Surrealism Herold starfish tile Moroccan Tajine dish didn’t you once
make pâté de foie gras right here with a brick? Persian imitating Chinese
the cat is talking to the birds, well, we all wish we were outside Skipper wishes
he had wings a calm indifference to smut and sway Cecil Beaton Syrie Mémoire
et Civilisation such a pile of stuff Raymond Roussel empty frames a square
1999
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