Oh Glorious, Benevolent Spite--The Times Are Out of Joint

OH, GLORIOUS, BENEVOLENT SPITE
THE TIMES ARE OUT OF JOINT


It might be that our contemporary existence
Is circa-circuitous
Without cognizance

Of

What is being gone around, or a circumference
That is not a circle, but a disjunctive swirl,
And has no center.
Or creases in corduroy.

An alchemist, who had studied under Paracelus
And Carl Jung,

Forlorn and hungry, picked the pocket
Of a musical composer

And found a tape of tapes,
The sounds of horn and motor
Of a red BMW roadster
Played backwards, overlaid
With an alligator's Spring mating sound,
And the sounds
Of a South Carolina wren
Singing a Chanson de Geste Aubade
Atonally
Accompanied by a Balinese gamelan
And a language game.


Duane Locke

Posted over on DeComp Magazine