Thursday, January 06, 2005
Gary at E l s e w h e r e has one for me & Chris
"STEELY DAN BOUCHARD
I make a pact with you Ron Silliman:
I'll learn to play the saxophone
there where I used to stand.
This is the day of the expanding man,
jet fuel flows with ground water. Tomato,
that shape is my shade
the landscape passes beside the highway.
I'll play just what I feel
in a remarkable book burning era.
They got a name for the winners in the world:
if you would like to make a speech
drink Scotch whisky all night long.
For the love of all things found,
crawl like a viper thru these suburban streets
till sunlight slights the cold.
I'm ready to cross that fine line
by streetcar rail. Imagine there's no Lenin,
and die behind the wheel
or from parking lots behind a stretch of trees.
I want a name when I lose
my mood in tandem with a poet's book.
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
whose root lies in the material conditions of existence.
Call me Deacon Blues."