It began as the GODFATHER OF MATH, evolved into the GOODFATHER OF MATH. Now this. Go figure...

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and think for ten minutes = G. CARLIN...Stain glass, engraved glass, frosted glass
–give me plain glass = JOHN FOWLES ... Music is the mathematics of the gods=PYTHAGORAS ... Nothing is more fluid than language = R. L. SWIHART
I cannot live without the oxygen of laughter = DAWN POWELL ... !!! ... But laughter cannot survive without the hydrogen of gravitas = PAUL OLIVERIO
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

1968 Poem Read On Air At WBAI In 1973 ... Indigestible?

________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
 
In restaurants we argue
over which of us will pay for your funeral

though the real question is
whether or not I will make you immortal.

At the moment only I
can do it and so

I raise the magic fork
over the plate of beef fried rice

and plunge it into your heart.
There is a faint pop, a sizzle

and through your own split head
you rise up glowing;

the ceiling opens
a voice sings Love Is A Many

Splendoured Thing
you hang suspended above the city

in blue tights and a red cape,
your eyes flashing in unison.

The other diners regard you
some with awe, some only with boredom:

they cannot decide if you are a new weapon
or only a new advertisement.

As for me, I continue eating;
I liked you better the way you were,
but you were always ambitious.
***
 
________________________________________________________________________________________________
 

1 comment:

  1. Margaret Atwood read this poem on the air at WBAI in 1973.
    Her second novel—SURFACING—was about to be published.
    Her first novel—THE EDIBLE WOMAN—had been published
    in 1969

    I no longer have access to the 1973 WBAI program guide
    but I swear to you...She was there
    and so was Paul Yellowvan who said to her:
    "I hate nuns with dirty habits"
    [possibly a false memory but I insist on thinking otherwise]

    -Oliverio

    ReplyDelete