this one is for sunfeather - hoping he'll return from his sabbatical
Ah Jean Dubuffet
when you think of him
doing his military service in the Eiffel Toiwer
as a meteorologist
in 1922
you know how wonderful the 20th century
can be
and the gaited Iroquois on the girders
fierce and unflinching-footed
nude as they should be
slightly empty
like a Sonia Delaunay
there is a parable of speed
somewhere behind the Indians' eyes
they invented the century with their horses
and their fragile backs
which are dark
we owe a debt to the Iroquois
and to Duke Ellington
for playing in the buildings when they are built
we don't do much ourselves
but fuck and think
of the haunting Metro
and the one who didn't show up there
while we were waiting to become part of our century
just as you can't make a hat out of steel
and still wear it
who wears hats anyway
it is our tribe's custom
to beguile
how are you feeling in an ancient September
I am feeling like a truck on a wet highway
how can you
you were made in the image of god
I was not
I was made in the image of a sissy truck-driver
and Jean Dubuffet painting his cows
"with a likenes burst in the memory"
apart from love (don't say it)
I am ashamed of my century
for being so entertaining
but I have to smile
-Frank O'Hara-
Naphtha
1959
Ah Jean Dubuffet
when you think of him
doing his military service in the Eiffel Toiwer
as a meteorologist
in 1922
you know how wonderful the 20th century
can be
and the gaited Iroquois on the girders
fierce and unflinching-footed
nude as they should be
slightly empty
like a Sonia Delaunay
there is a parable of speed
somewhere behind the Indians' eyes
they invented the century with their horses
and their fragile backs
which are dark
we owe a debt to the Iroquois
and to Duke Ellington
for playing in the buildings when they are built
we don't do much ourselves
but fuck and think
of the haunting Metro
and the one who didn't show up there
while we were waiting to become part of our century
just as you can't make a hat out of steel
and still wear it
who wears hats anyway
it is our tribe's custom
to beguile
how are you feeling in an ancient September
I am feeling like a truck on a wet highway
how can you
you were made in the image of god
I was not
I was made in the image of a sissy truck-driver
and Jean Dubuffet painting his cows
"with a likenes burst in the memory"
apart from love (don't say it)
I am ashamed of my century
for being so entertaining
but I have to smile
-Frank O'Hara-
Naphtha
1959
VIEW 23 of 23 COMMENTS
kenyon:
goddammit! i still haven't figured out how to do picture posts on this new mac! see how everybody suffers because of this?
ronja:
i am not sure if i found one. sometimes yes, sometimes no. probably not. sigh. it is not easy to commit myself to someone. i am already so commited to my daughter. i love her to pieces and the connection between us is pure magic. i can't quite describe it.