ODE TO L. A.

ODE TO L.A. WHILE THINKING OF BRIAN JONES, DECEASED

I'm a resident of a city
They've just picked me to play
the Prince of Denmark,br>
Poor Ophelia

All those ghosts he never saw
Floating to doom,
On an iron candle

Come back, brave warrior
Do the dive
On another channel

Hot buttered pool
Where's Marrakesh
Under the falls
the wild storm
where savages fell out
in late afternoon
monsters of rhythm

You've left your
Nothing
to compete w/
Silence

I hope you went out
Smiling
Like a child
Into the cool remnant
of a dream

The angel man
w/Serpents competing
for his palms
& fingers
Finally claimed
This benevolent

Soul
Ophelia

Leaves, sodden
in silk

Chlorine
dream
mad stifled
Witness

The diving board, the plunge
The pool

You were a fighter
a damask musky muse

You were the bleached
Sun
for TV afternoon

horned-toads
maverick of a yellow spot

Look now to where it's got
You

in meat heaven
w/the cannibals,
& jews

The gardener
Found
The body, rampant, Floating

Lucky Stiff
What is this green pale stuff
You're made of

Poke holes in the goddess
Skin

Will he Stink
Carried heavenward,
Thru the halls,
of music

No chance.

Requiem for a heavy
That smile
That porky satyr's
leer
has leaped upward

into the loam

Copyright © 1988 Wilderness Publications