ed baker - new mysticsher near still holds arms 'round doubt i (nor she) can or will let go...
TRANSCRIPT
NEIGHBOR Books 1, 2, 3
AROUSAL
CALLING YOU
SHADES
Ed Baker
tel let / red ochre press2007
1
[Neighbors]
"There exists a creature who is perfectly harmless;when it passes before your eyes, you hardly noticeit and immediately forget again. But as soon as itsomehow, invisibly, gets into your ears, it begins
to develop, it hatches, and cases have been knownwhere it has penetrated into the brain and flourish
es there devastatingly, like pneumococci in dogswhich gain entrance through the nose.
This creature is your neighbor."
Ranier Maria Rilke
Ahead of All Parting: p.266
"Giacometti said: 'One day while I was drawinga young girl something struck me: that is to say,all of a sudden I noticed the only thing that remained alive was the gaze. The rest, the head
made into a skull, became equivalent to a death's head. What made the difference between deathand the individual was the gaze ... In a living person there is no doubt that what makes him
alive is his gaze. If the gaze, that is to say life itself, becomes essential, there is no doubt that
what is essential is the head."
from James Lord's 'Giacometti a biography'p. 426
2
copyright (c) 2007 by Ed Bakerin conjunction w tel let
"the imaginary is what tends to become real." Andre Breton
"every page a book. each word more so." Ed Baker
for Every MAGDALENE
tel let /Red Ochre Press
8215 Flower Ave.Takoma Park, Md. 20912
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Contents 1. AROUSAL
The Edge 8Gone Fishing 9The Runner 10A Valentine 11Object Subject Predicates Upon 12Letters 14Silhouette 16Focus 17The Setup 18In this quiet She handed 19The Silences 19Dead Ignition 22Tall Standing Nude 23I thought 26The View 29Man Contemplates Framed Sketch Hung on Wall 31Last Word FIRST 32The Glare 33The Touch 34I was 35
2. CALLING YOU
Calling You 38Fill 'er Up 40Guitar Riff 41The Cut 42Tuesday Morning 43The Fall 44Letter of Intent 46Regarding What I Want 48Stork 49Belt Around Waist 50The Window 51A Complication 52Great American Guarantee 53To Get Eyes Open 54This Poem is Form 55Red Ochre 56Ten Years Bondage 57She has it 59Continued Search for 60Of Course It's Your Mind 61The Face 62The Cut 63Nude: Woman Stands 64Your Eyes 66
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3. SHADES
A Maven Sues 69Eating Your Barb/ecue 70I Opened 72Model Behind Glass 73What Good? 74Two weeks into 75I would 76visions come 77She is Mystery 78I/You Dance 79The Shade came down 81The Silence 84each 85
PLATES/ILLUSTRATIONS (all art by the Author)
"Masked woman in Window with two crystal tears" 3/7/98 front piece/cover 12"The Embrace" 3/6/98 25"A View" 2/24/98 30"The Glare" 3/4/98 36"You..." (after A. Giacometti) 4/19/98 65"#2 Through the Window 8:35 A.M." 4/11/98 67"SixoverOne" 4/19/98 71"The Face" 5/5/98 86
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1
AROUSAL
(2/9/98)
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The Edge On sillpeeringhead tilted
towards sun
so closeI can smellyour hair
hanging down
Green eyeshiddenamong the black
embrace acontradiction
briefly
confusedby your look
glare
to get a bettersense ofI
turned
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GONE FISHING
1.
You gave mea can ofworms
andtold meto go
fish ing;
so, I did
I fished&I fished
&I am fish ing.
2.
May have putcorn on line
yet is ponebaiton perch thatsill is
step higher
swim againstcurrent
betterview
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THE RUNNER
A.G.'s
run s difficulta longtrail
cut throughsunlit leg slong
rise
fingers, handsbody stretcheslongings
for balance
cling ing
tangle winterbranchesbefore
me
and I
reach
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A VALENTINE
white wallladderleanedagainst
toget toNeighbor
claim herattention
Ritual israppingonwindow
pain
face reflectionwhatcomesbackto haunt
little saidor startles
gets usthere
comesby reflectionwhatalso
gets
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OBJECT SUBJECT PREDICATES UPON
untiedknot legsmade
cave towardsfire light
to her slittedjust thereher mouthwide
open hand palmhis
due
predicate upontouch
all ears tuned
turn toplace
purslane
inearly
spring
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12
LETTERS
What beside letterslippedunder back door
three days laidon counter
unopened morning signalsrise too blinds
smell of breakfast burn ings waft through half raised wind ow
deliberatelystripped to bare
skin
while leavesin small piles
once were burned
drew all attentiontowards lingering
smella woman
wait ing.
next to hernext to couchnext
Bonded Jim Beam
did me in...
sealed letter
whiskey on ice
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(she KNOWS I'm a beer man)
brought metobeside myself
This Friday
openitsexpansea woman is
doing
exactly
three times one
drop
ing
into confusion
issues predispose
loosefitto knees
tofit.
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SILHOUTTE
for S.S.
1.
Awaken! daysspentgazing throughwindow(I swear again)
stand betweenglass/body
light leansthroughthat dressre:veals
breasts, back,front desirerighton
direct to'pudding'
just there
legs curvedelight
pitch to certain
knowledge
2.
"Mine!"
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3.
First sucking headeverything thatcould get beyondconditions
hair
pungent
caught in eyein ear
'tick' 'tick'
3 A.M.leaps
want
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FOCUS
Stood indistancesandwatched
your reflectionmoving
suddenly
through in sulatedglass
under winter blankettes
her hot fingers yourhotter breath
make lighter
fogged image w blacksofthair
hanging from the drawstring
"gee!" becomes longdevelopedprintsketch ing
the hurtwas not
my doing.
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THE SETup
I should have knownbetterthan to have worn
"that" hatcock s tailfor
show
it is a business not yetwas prepared for
what wentdown
like rabbit in mindin head
switch her 'on'to memorized
image of "my father
molesting me"
another want to tell herthat the pain is notthe woman the girl was.
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In this quiet she handed me another clearly bonded
double whiskey
is clear to menowas cold her hands were chilled
to the touch
just so across the roomfire in hearth
a moment that Icouldnot
getout
of
THE SILENCE
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betweenher opening and closinghands'round
overunder
as clear as glassgave additiona lyher homebrewed
blues accompanied by own guitar string s
contorted gaze
atwist twistin to bodystretch ing
another timeplace
I would have quicklypaid
sipped from rimeat ripe persimmon from betweenn her lips...
arms are branchestwist is this headgiving hair flip floppingflyaway up twirl isdizzying ly full skirt
fingers into my beardinto my mouthputting words
just be yond
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this
;semicolon
that hair agai n again no metaphor can do "this" adequate homage...
through obvious gates go countless others foot prints through snow
to and fromto and fro m
a momentto be getting outof
just in time!
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DEAD IGNITION
carparked
betweencommitments
eastwise shadowelongates
pushiton
gobuttonthroughthe cold
motor
whine isanunwelcome d
soundthroughfromthereto here
from towardanother
there
herthinbody
hard against the wind
ow
pain 2/22/99
22
TALL STANDING NUDE
fall of'97firstdrawn
duplicateincornerthrough
red glowon greenskin
reflects sourcea man
comes
intothis
scathed
heatshapeshisrise
ing
prowess
comeson waves
One wavebeckons his
re:solve
what heis
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pressedbetweenhot/cold
moment s
bounded
hungthengone
what was behind
cannottellfrontfromback
alsostands.
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I/thought it was aTree of Heaven,I swear,
she said it was
thisstraddle ingbe/tween our
properties
sureddefined
beautiful shapeofclay roof tiles
nestled intobirdsnesting
spent yearscacklingback and forth
over property
rights
cut throughperfectlytoutility hut
trench to layelectric in
trimmed her bigtree
actually a bushweedfully grown
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warning me to
mind theclippers
imagine that!
hernear still holdsarms 'round doubt I (nor she)can or will
let go
shearpersistswarning'sendthinbranching s
overgrowing takingwind with whitesided house
black between thewindow s shutter
no one sees her so through
nor calls or comes
smooth as silkthe hinge s oil
last one outslams
door
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on on on on
on clouds these moments de:tangleknots in hair
braids undone
un doneprecise movement of herlips toward smile
red red the sepia ofrelentless
stiffas
so
Adumbrate
what is be comeof her of this
sunlit castinglong ing shadow
blue sky blue
bird chirps bird sound ing
Shrikelike
mocking cut of myin two
lips
moist to quick nesssay or
"You can kissss my assessss
precisely."
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THE VIEW
I hardly knewyou then
something in particular slowed medown leaves catching
sudden warm breeze lingers in it sdrift
deliberatelykept my distanceto get a perspective;
for days nothing about anythingsaid
what meant more sojust out of reach
or wantstroke can write
reach over wringyour neck
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MAN CONTEMPLATES FRAMED SKETCH HUNG ON WALL
Skein of lineboundssituate
rage
is continual starebeyond thisperfect wait
cat walks throughfog
closesnumeratepossibilities
hairy formjust so justso
sparse in frame
hung from nail
nailedthrough hands
it s imminentfly to
phantasy
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LAST WORD FIRST
1.
wire fansounds
ch... ch... ch...
content to murder
The Silence disappearing into its own w h i r r...
set on sill brings what windit can
2.
night descends just be yondher rail ling lean is i nto opened wide what way wrong notissued or an saying stone dropped into half full glass care abruptly closes
3.
Now. To get down from this ladder!
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The Glare
from herepartsof a girl
a womanismother of
seen atom'scenter with
The Naked Eye
possiblefrags a clue
it s imagepurehypothesis
hardedge surrounded by The White
it s circumferencehas no center
as sunlight light
clouds overcover
comes back tolie w me
under
stand ingswingships
makeseverything(in)visible
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The Touch
what thinkingdemandswalking
along Sugarloaf Mont s rim
round valley up thissideovergrown pines
just beyond smokewaft ing of a pungency
nuclear waste management facility
restricted access
was also her on paper
felt skin itch upbristle her blackhairs
arch on beyond wordsdive is into without a
sound.
Could longerat least strip down tolinger "there" see you loosely
held together
"We have a complexrelationship.
"My father was a garbage man. Picked up the dead the near dead:
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"I was youngandknew nothing."
OH THE STENCH!
burn is both ends towardsmiddle
unfinished /smolders /smolders
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