“In our period they say there is free speech. / They say there is no penalty for poets, / There is no penalty for writing poems. / They say this. This is the penalty.” Muriel Rukeyser, 1968
ONE
incense-perfumed ritual a staple of evil it traffics
in
awe which is a closely related emotion
to terror stories
it wrestles
with me
the same mystic horror story it wrestles with its richness of
exorcists
of symbols and incense-perfumed ritual
a staple of
evil it
wrestles with
the same material for
horrored epochs it
wrestles with
the
same the most mysterial horror catholicism
its richness of evil traffics in awe
which is
a closely related
emotion right up through a fox’s
current
terror stories it
wrestles with the terrible iteration
TWO
like the young pope beginning on friday
and showing
on sunday and showing
on
sunday
and showing sunday
and showing
sunday and
showing
on
sunday and showing on
sunday
and showing sunday and
showing on
sunday on sundays and
showing on sundays
and
THREE
little-respected american the
church
conservatives and a bridge
between
church conservatives
and
a bridge
between
establishment
led by the
orange vatican the church establishment led
by the name
pius
florida hopes
he will be a telegenic puppet and a bridge
between
church
conservatives and a
bridge between
church
establishment led by the name
hopes he will be
a telegenic puppet and
a bridge between church establishment and conservatives and a bridge
between establishments
FOUR
law is but his
belief turnt out
an unlucky
number
the new pop-culture literate he’s hooked
on cherry coke zero he’s hooked
on
cherry coke
zero he’s hooked on cherry coke zero he — well he’s
hooked on cherry coke zero he’s hooked
on cherry
coke zero he’s
the president now
is
superficially novel: he’s
hooked on cherry coke zero
he’s hooked
on cherry coke zero he’s hooked on cherry coke
zero he’s hooked on cherry coke zero he’s
hooked on cherry coke zero he’s hooked on cherry
coke zero he’s hooked on cherry coke zero he’s hooked on
cherry coke zero he’s hooked on
cherry coke zero he’s hooked up
FIVE
now meet
people where the
faithful compromise lays
faithful
compromise
that the
faithful compromise
that they are but a bridge
but without compromise that the faithful compromise
that they are but a
bridge but a bridge but a bridge but withdrawal bridge but with a drawbridge
but
without drawing too sharp a point and he’s pulling
himself
up not to meet the people
the faithful compromise
that they
are but withdrawn and ecumenicism lit af
it must not meet people where
the faithful lay
compromise is that they are
but a bridge but a bridge
but drawbridge but drawbridge
but withdrawn and
ecumenical;
he must not
a bridge be
SIX
break the seal oh confessor spurning
the nun who raised him sees an orphan
is an
orphan
as an
orphan
is
an orphan
as
a
tyrant he has
an orphan is an orphan
eats
a
tyrant has an orphan in his eye
he
has an
orphan's offal
as a tired tyrant
as an opal
as an orphan
as confessor spurning
the
seal of esuli, rifugiati e sfollati de mezzo america
the curia’s influence he’s a
tyrant he has an orphan priest confess
SEVEN
only god says you have a terrifying
crowd in st peter’s
square hope
for
a terrifying will
never be close to
one’s
fellow man
forget man forget man forget man
forget man
forget man forget man forget man forget man
forget man
forget
man
forget man forget
man forget man
forget man forget man
forget
man forget
man forget
man
forget man
forget man forget man forget
man forget
man forget
man forget man forget man forget man forget man forget
man
forget
man forget
man forget man
forget
man forget man forget man forget man
forget me
EIGHT
only as a furious shadow on the
balcony shoot video for dramatic
maneuverings
church maneuverings
church movements and
appear
only as a
furious shadow on a balcony
which elevated social media platform
a
visual
maximalist explore
the
drama
of finding god through
isolation
church maneuverings
church movements
appear only as a furious
shadow on
a balcony
NINE
disjointed art-house vacation
this moment that’s what the
young pope
is
but
it’s
what the
young pope is
but what is the young
pope but
a pulpy and disjointed art-house
vatican of pulp and joint
it’s what the young
pope is
TEN
it’s weakest the closer it sticks
set
pieces it's
weakest the closer it stands set pieces it’s
weakest
the closer it sticks
to
its narrative intrigue
narrative church impresa
with histrionics and
mustache-twirling and
bombastic weakness
the closer it
sticks to its narrative weakness
it sets its weakest pieces beside its epic
histrionics grown like a mustache
ELEVEN
young pope — he
actually
calls himself that —
i am the young pope
—
i actually call
myself that
—
i
put no
stock in ether
drafted to seduce
a jealous meteor
there’s an absurd
subplot in which this
italianate conscientiousness actually calls
law stand with me in the puddle
as
christ the vernacular
is lowered and i know it
sounds insane
if not
blasphemous but it’s sacred and appallingly weird
this
kind of
holy
anger
our eyes
cycling
cold lightning an abandoned child an orphan an opal a tyrant faith
a kind of misanthropy no one loves
which is why i’m prepared for
everyone
1 thought on “Wikipedia Poem, No. 383”
Outstanding and astounding. It reads like a mystical experience embedded in psychosis–but whether the insanity is outside or inside remains unknown. Very unique voice and powerful lament.
Outstanding and astounding. It reads like a mystical experience embedded in psychosis–but whether the insanity is outside or inside remains unknown. Very unique voice and powerful lament.