Fugitive Pieces

7.

A dog & a bear walked into a bar.
Whatelit be? The bear ordered a saw
& sawed the dogs head off. But how

could I feel sorry for the dog, who
sat there laughing like an idiot?
At first I couldn't believe what I saw,

the saw & the sawing done, &
the hirsute sawyer, but after 3 days
I believed it. I went to the doctor

to explain what I had seen, & he sd
you were drunk, but I explained that
I hadn't even started. He waved & sd

give me a call sometime, & put
into my hand 3 small lovely pills. So
I swallowed them, but did not call the Dr.—

choosing instead to return to the bar
where the bear had killed the dog.
What'll it be. A magic carpet, I sd.

So he bends over and what do you know,
stands back up with a rolled up carpet
& plops it onto the bar. I put a 20

on the polishd oak & sat conscientiously,
gazing both at the carpet & the bartender.
At last I workd up the courage to ask him:

If you painted a hole in a mountain w/ black
paint, would that constitute a tunnel?
He started laughing, laughing like an idiot.


19.

A dog & a bar walked into a bear,
and the bear sd, hey, what's the idea?
Just like that, like some guy getting

bullied by a couple of roughs in a bar
in Monterey, in a film made in the 40s.
So the dog laid into the bear, while

the bar just sat there, as bars will do,
& growled something fierce, growling
something, fiercely. But the bear held

his ground, & with his arms akimbo,
like somebody's domineering grandmother,
growled even louder, at which point

the dog pinned his ears to the side of
his head & apologized; but the bear
was having none of it, & suddenly threw

his arms wide, & brandished his claws,
when suddenly the bar stood up, by which
I mean became vertical, & loured over

the bear, who was daunted, having never
seen a bar do that kind of thing, & the bear
sd, hey, what's the idea, like a cowardly lion

in a film from the 30s, & stepped back,
dammit! right into a bear trap, at which
point the dog laughed & pointed, &

it was easy to see, by the look on his face,
that he was sure he had been avenged,
until the bar suddenly fell, & crushed him.

*

Diin Ocquonoctua (A Sound Poem)

Poems performed are poems sounded, where the sounding by the voice or by instruments acting as surrogate voices can bring a new sense of power/empowerment to performers and auditors. The further extensions and transformations of voice move it closer and closer to "the condition of music," to the point where words and syntax — the common constituents of language — are obscured, subordinated, or totally abandoned. The push toward such a poetry has long been present at the far limits of the modernist project and with it the recognition of similar processes and works outside of literature as such. Thus Velimir Khlebnikov, early in the game, with reference to a traditional Russian poetry equivalent to his newly minted zaum language:

Spells and incantations, what we call magic words, the sacred language of paganism … are rows of mere syllables which the intellect can make no sense of, and they form a kind of beyondsense [zaum] language in folk speech. Nevertheless an enormous power over mankind is attributed to these incomprehensible and magic spells, a direct influence upon the fate of man. … The magic in a word remains magic even if it is not understood and loses none of its power. Poems may be understandable or they may not, but they must be good, they must be truthful. (Translation from the Russian by Paul Schmidt) - Jerome Rothenberg  http://www.ubu.com/ethno/soundings.html


Illia shanta desit, penui tevit o novo,
ed tues speci kalcho, te diti shangra natta,
spui zezonte kli evi, derche pui tankat,
o te min denta biniavo lor kalaii envo da shakt.
Tues menehesu feldo, finna voiheshu shent
talik ed duo nuesa, shali in teka, oveni.
Biejake tenko polto, te tues indomo valo. 
Henta macanta shela, duo dentika tegant,
ed vena yordo menako, tues adolvo shent
irdi benith duis ordit, puis posheko fultis,
illia shanta edi, es potu timortho dehi.

Totumen deffa hesha, cris et dana bedova,
mortumen fonta kiella, as ed tued id dievi.
Non ak akande, tormo es tues toid esta,
illiia benquo vento, towoor mena casata,
ish ina fulti toworka do esh incomto plekta,
cana bet borno, indui, enduisha sot.
Mena can templa udorphoset, rina, rina quelo
bei endado da calsa de morno, ahasth.
Sot tues fumit a glanta, tezida morno eganta,
suis et a ganta quormosa a benta, banli Chi!
In id indingota plues vanda du ples, fekant.
Tues et odi, beyanka, tiyendha depit tramak.
De do i o se i remaka. Ontov filest eshilla.
Ilies es stilla, tues ed op, enna chaihka,
buenit denno, sot yanga, sed yis, olto benoto.

Dolia ghenata tuos, et id benadi shaldo,
tues yi haddi fenulta, cris toh tokit tondanti.
Shent, illia shantavento, puier dena velago,
pormos dokeh shi dano, quilo quuai na ti.
Jhed!  ig vornosto zenaltis, ed tormo yadi ki
quat el te damma, te damma, tues eth shont.
Beno pir aldon ishentak, khali hedianna,
shentin o feldi fahnka puier codolfto khelid,
Ba damo tenti shistolo, vuquielati, Chi!
Nesto bilendi tamka, tenka di shesh,
volden es ed, ed voldo, vadla do si, si veka.
Belda jhos shesso kanta, illia ganta menoldo,
cando di nestili kloshist, zentus zenalta yot.
Quielpet in dano ve mortoshos, pello polto adiin.
Oquentis kesto i kempo, suyo sha sed tues di!