The Kansas of English – Raymond Farr

In this pome
of isolated—

 

Part mountain goat
Part 40 watt apparitional state

 

as in LOST case
of cause célèbre

 

Deleted miscellany
Resume their function

 

In reruns of
In reruns of

 

A dungeon light
we have known
& loved
absent-mindedly

 

Our Miracle Whip dead’re
exiled to Bubble Yum

 

If I believe in
Sang froid, the body artist

 

I vomit his apostrophes

 

as/king tub out
of Iowa: who ate asparagus?

 

the Kansas of English?

 

or oblong Minerva is shooting
an omelet
The other his pulse
has Lennie to thank

 

His gear
Shifts post-war
Echoing
Rothko

 

To vent the I’m sorry

 

His tale is a pause
Of tall pails
Pausing like Jack

 

& like Jill

 

I’m damned if the echo
I cry in my brain stem—

 

Armless & wandering
You’re real after all!

 

I wouldn’t be here
If the bomb said my name, he told me

 

The glory hole stays holed, I replied

 

The blood puddings…
The schlock…
The cheap iron cutlery that once were his eyes…

 

The constant
Movement within

 

An aside

 

The author of meaning
His logos an ohm
Has closed like a circuit

 

of small empty chairs

 

Or is he like Steve? An empire? A stew?

 

not really, singing:
Or jolly

 

the original Lays’
baked chip, mumbling:

 

derniere derniere mise en scene
derniere derniere mise en scene

 

Until props fail
& works give
birth

 

are doughing up
roaring like twenties

 

What is is
Is pieced from
Perceived lives
A past

 

& giving up
thousands

 

the city has charms

Raymond Farr is author of Ecstatic/.of facts (Otoliths 2011), There Is Something Missing in the Whole Transaction between Us (Blue & Yellow Dog Press 2011), & Writing What For? across the Mourning Sky (Argotist Ebooks 2011). He is editor of Blue & Yellow Dog. For more info visit his blog.