09.29.09
Paul Muldoon | Poetry

"@"

Like the whorl of an out-of-this-world ear that had been lent
to an oak-gall wasp by a tenth century Irish monk
who would hold out oak-gall ink against the predicament
in which he found himself…
                                      
                                       Like the ever-unfolding trunk
of the elephant in the room that gives such a bad vibe
it vies with your old hippie girlfriend who once lent such weight
to any argument to which you feared she might subscribe,
including her insistence we abbreviate 
our most promising rlshps…

                                       Like the scrolled-down tail
of a Capuchin monkey drawing on its inner strengths
as it hammers short-sighted snail against short-sighted snail
that has nonetheless gone to extraordinary lengths…

Like the tapeworm swallowed by a hippie who was once fat
but is now kind of bummed out you've lost track of where she's at.


Special permission has been granted by the author for Design Observer to reprint this poem online. Originally published in The New Republic.





Comments [4]

See also: http://ampersand.gosedesign.net/richard-wilbur/
Zachary Sachs
10.04.09
09:30

wuihh... simple but large....nice
yon ade
10.05.09
12:50

see also http://komunikasi.um.ac.id
yon ade
10.05.09
12:52

Like the long lashes of your secret lover, engulfing and chewing you with each bat, then spitting you out onto the floor and calming you down with a gentle pat.
jannine
10.06.09
10:09


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