| Lynne Shapiro |
From Ozone Park to Zone Fiveread by lynne shapiro Perhaps by next year you'll be ready for freeways O Brooklyn Bridge, can you envision sunrise on Interstate 805? You've had enough speed, but are back for more Welcome to the Coast, where only the autos tire Run out of essence, rust, fracture Grandma Moses, put down your palette No winter scenes here The route does not submit to the desert But remains ever new The masses feed the road Billboards to please & appease Edible poetry Take the Normal Heights exit Buy a Condo in Baja I merge with the road that feeds the main yellow artery What a rush to recognize them At their own speed (See Aristotle. See William Gaddis.) The executive pack races to communicate the word Radio talks of tabloids talks of radio You coolly surprise mother with three-letter words ALL's a detergent The BAR's down the street TV and neon: tubes that deliver America's finest city, cleanest city This is the greenest freeway There's the zoo Lemon yellow San Diego stewardesses Take the mainline to town I get off here. You are a child munching eggies and jam (Oh, don't turn green!) You can't swallow and chew to the jump rope beat of striped feet Touching down on cracked sidewalks No cracks out west No weeds or roots pushing through Faith in pristine continuity in a land with no past You are serious about the alphabet And together with your friend, Jackie Compose secret words In the sandbox having to pee Holding your pants with your left hand Covering your mouth with the right Giggling on the hour that Church bells were ringing  © Justin Kujawski There is the amphitheater Ginsberg warms up Eight hours of rain Ash grey San Diego wants to know Are you the rain king? What do you carry in your squeeze box reliquary? Katie's an angel, but Ginsberg…he's a saint Quick changes into --poof -- a dog Do I dare take a picture? Increase depth of field? Focus, focus hocus pocus They say he imitates the Maharaja They say he imitates a man for whom Eastern Religion is the way He says he is imitating a man who loves his brother I believe him Om om om om om om om om om om om om om om Rhapsody! He takes flight Alan howls like the good book tells him to howl Manifestations infinite The amphitheater has no ceiling! Shoot now? Get closer? Eight hours a bearded man brushes his teeth Dogs fuck on stage A seven year old stoops to pick up glass bits Silently enters my field of rain Holding the glass out to me No sun to reflect You can't make a sound Sway like Alan Chant like Alan I implore you Broken china on East 77th Street Grandma Semlock bends to clear away Pieces of cups and saucers Remnants of Jackie's Christmas present You laugh still you are the sacrilegious culprits I examine a print under the light Alan's transformed into a rabbi Dangling winter scarf turns talis A fine range of tones I finally recognize him Having thought there was something familial "You never knew Jack Kerouac" "You never knew Neil Cassidy" Om om om om om om om om om om om I stood at the entrance to the Pope's Palace Torn by options I choose Shadow detail on the door In Belfast, Guerillas take to the street Quickly, I choose High speed film, deep focus I steal from an old man with dark eyes As he bends to pick up a coin Je suis un voleur I have robbed Apollinaire I rob Ginsberg Random moments in time elude me To become unsolved mysteries in black and white Last night, I dreamt that in the grainy silver pearls of a chromide photo mural I witnessed her abduction Had I not walked by at this pace At this distance In this perfect light I would not have witnessed the horror that lies in wait beneath the classic work of art Tell me, Minor White, If you were to take my picture Right here right now What zone would I be in? Five? Glass shatters Pieces fall through… There was a time we used glass plates "From Ozone Park to Zone Five" was previously published in Clockwise Cat’s issue 6, “Author Imitation Poetry and Fiction”. For many years, Lynne Shapiro taught a course, On the Road with Tailfins: Literature and art of the 1950s, at The New School for Social Research in NYC. Her poems and essays have been published recently in Myselxia, Hiss Quarterly, qarrtsiluni (http://qarrtsiluni.com/category/water, a podcast), terrain.org (http://www.terrain.org/essays/21/shapiro.htm) and Mourning Sickness - Stories and Poems About Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Infant Loss (www.omniartsllc.com). She is currently writing her first YA novel. |